- Date Of Birth: October 28, 1929
- Date Of Death: July 14, 2016
- State: Florida
James “Jim” August Walker, 86, of Cocoa Beach, Florida, passed away Thursday, July 14, 2016. Jim was born on October 28, 1929, in Evansville, Indiana. He graduated from Benjamin Bosse High School in 1947 and from Evansville University with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 1952 and completed graduate work at St. Louis University. On January 2, 1953, Jim married his high school sweetheart, Jenny Tegarden, of Evansville, Indiana. Upon graduating, Jim spent two years in the US Navy, stationed in Key West, Florida, before beginning his career in the space industry. Jim worked for McDonnell Douglas, Grumman, Boeing, Rockwell, and Lockheed, as a design engineer, Supervisor of Environmental Control Systems, and as a Manager of Fluid Systems. His work included F3H & F4H aircraft, Mercury, Gemini and Apollo spacecrafts, and the Lunar Module and Orbiter Spacecraft, and testing and servicing of systems on the shuttle.
Jim is survived by his wife, Jenny Walker, and his five children: James Walker of Miami, Tom Walker of Cocoa Beach, Sandy Giesecke of Orlando, Sara Enriquez of Melbourne, and Karen Walker of Orlando. He is also survived by his ten grandchildren: Tommy, Sandy, David, Kristy, Kathryn, Shaun, Stephanie, Hannah, Kara, and AJ. He is also survived by his two great-grandchildren Horizon and Caden, his brother Charles Walker (95), and many nephews and nieces. He was preceded in death by his parents Charles and Clara Walker, his sister Mildred, and his brother Harold.
Jim’s priority in life was family and he enjoyed vacationing throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe, as well as bi-yearly reunions at Disney World with his children and grandchildren. He enjoyed being active and liked to play bridge, tennis and work in his yard, watching the sunsets on the Banana River.
