Mr. and Mrs. T. Urling Walker
The Walker family offers three scholarships at Jefferson Community College: the Walker Family Engineering Scholarship, the Wendy Walker Nursing Memorial Scholarship and the Constance Walker Monroe Liberal Arts Memorial Scholarship. The scholarships have been established by T. Urling and Mabel B. Walker in memory of their two children and to help students in need of financial aid. While the criteria for each varies, the scholarships are competitive, two-year awards.
According to Mr. and Mrs. T. Urling Walker, The Wendy Walker Nursing Memorial Scholarship was created in 1986 to memorialize their daughter and to ‘provide scholarship money to students who pursue the same kind of course of study Wendy would have pursued.’
Students receiving this competitive, two-year scholarship must be enrolled in the nursing program at Jefferson Community College and show strong academic potential. Recipients must continue to excel academically if they are to receive aid the following year. The scholarship is awarded to a first- and second-year JCC nursing student annually.
Winifred Grace Walker was born on September 4, 1954 in Watertown, New York, a daughter of T. Urling and Mabel B. Walker. As a student at Watertown High School, she played the flute in the school’s band, and was elected a student representative of the 1972 Yearbook staff. She was also a member of the 4-H Club of Adams, New York.
Mr. Walker said this of his daughter:
‘Wendy was a cheerful and methodical young lady who had two dreams. An intense lover of animals — especially her horse — she aspired to be a veterinarian. Another dream she had, one which I think she wanted to come true even more than becoming a veterinarian, was to get married and have children. Though whatever dream Wendy would have pursued, my wife and I know she would have given it 100% of her effort to succeed. To us, Wendy was too good to be true. When we realized how ill Wendy was and understood the prognosis of it, it was difficult to understand that a year later she would no longer be with us. Yet, during this experience, both our family and Wendy were able to adjust to this sad reality, and to this day, she has remained an inspiration.’
Miss Walker was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Watertown.
She died of cancer August 12, 1971, at age 16.
The Jefferson Community College Foundation is grateful to Mr. and Mrs. T. Urling Walker for creating this scholarship.