John Knox Walker

John Knox Walker Sr, 80, of Westfield, passed away at the Kate B. Reynolds Hospice House in Winston Salem, May 24, 2023, after an extended batte with metastaic prostate cancer. John was preceded in death by his parents and brothers. He is survived by his wife, eight children, twelve grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren, as well as his sister and two sisters-in-law.

John was born July 3, 1942, at home in Warren County, Iowa, to his parents Albert Cecil & Bessie Irene (Headley) Walker. He had two older brothers, Charles Eugene & James Albert, and a younger sister, Esther Lucille.

John was blessed with three children from his first marriage: Rebecca Sue, John Knox Jr, and Daniel James. In 1978, he married his current wife of 45 years, Peggy “Diane” Lawson, and together they had five children: Angela Joy, Benjamin Judson, Andrew Cecil, Charity Ann, and Melody Irene.

John graduated High School in 1960 from New Virginia Community School, where he enjoyed playing short-stop on the school’s baseball team. Throughout his school years, he also had a passion working his days as a real-life cowboy and farm hand.

In the late 1950s, at a church revival service, in Osceola, Iowa, John accepted Jesus as his Savior and dedicated his life to the Lord. He was later called to join the ministry and moved to Nebraska to attend Omaha Baptist Bible College in 1964. The family moved to North Carolina in 1966, where he attended Piedmont Baptist Bible College in Winston Salem, until he graduated in 1970 with a Bachelor of Theology. In 1972, he was the pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church, in Windsors Crossroads, Yadkin County. He then started a new church, Berean Baptist Church, in 1974, in Hamptonville, North Carolina.

From 1966 through 1989, he worked in Data Processing and Banking Services at Wachovia Bank, which was merged with Anacomp, then NCR.

In 1989, John decided to start his own business, Walker Home Improvements, working primarily in the Winston Salem area. He was blessed with these opportunities, not only as ways to support his family, but also as Home Missions; a way to testify his faith and to serve God through spreading the gospel to others. He finally retired in 2019, at 75 years old, after 30 years of business.

Besides his astounding faith, some of John’s greatest pleasures included reading books of every kind, going hunting & fishing, collecting, and working with tools & guns, getting to know all his special customers, watching his enormous collection of westerns (John Wayne, Roy Rogers, & Gene Autry), attending baseball games with his family, and being forever known as the “baby whisperer”. He also had an undying love for his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren… even the numerous adopted and furry ones.

The Walker Family would like to extend their overwhelming gratitude to the medical staff at the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Intermediate Care Unit and the Kate B. Reynolds Hospice House, for the amazing care and support they provided to us all in John’s final days. We will never be able to thank you enough.

In lieu of flowers, donation's can be made to The Christian Community Baptist Church (1180 McDaniel Road, Pilot Mountain, NC 27041) or The NRA Foundation (Att: Finance, 11250 Waples Mill Road, Fairfax, VA 22030).