Alton Walker Sr.

Alton Walker peacefully passed away on April 30, 2022.  His intelligence, love of learning, entrepreneurial spirit  and personality will be missed by many who knew him.  He was born at home in Homer, Louisiana, on March 10, 1940, to Fred Walker, Sr., and Margie Lee Cunningham Walker, weighing 14 pounds and was the eldest of their 4 children. His work ethic was honed early, as he took his first job at 12 to help support his Mom and siblings.  A part of the Great Migration of Black folks, Alton hungered for better opportunities up North, so he jumped at the chance to move to Dayton as a teenager, with a box of chicken for the journey and penny loafers in which he inserted a shiny dime.

He attended Homer Colored High in Louisiana, graduated from Roosevelt High School in Dayton and took economics classes at Sinclair Community College.  

​In 1960, he married Janice Allena Arnold in Dayton and they had 5 beautiful children.  They bought their family home in Jefferson Township. Alton worked at Liberals Meat Warehouse where he was a Union Steward, and then started Walker’s Truck Washing Business pressure washing trucks.  “It felt good to earn my own money, but the harsh winters caused the business to fold.”  He worked at General Motors where his wife Janice worked on the top floor, the 5thfloor, with the President of Frigidaire.  He remembered being told, “darkies aren’t allowed up here unless you work up here.” Alton worked at Rex T.V. for 13 years.  He was proud when his kids stopped by and visited him at work.  Joe Harrison, the owner of AlcorSupply and Fixture Company, bought stereo equipment from Alton at Rex and saw how he worked and offered him a job at Alcor where he worked for 30 years.  

Alton was an entrepreneur and at one time owned 5 multifamily real estate properties.  His favorite sayings were “Profits are better than wages” and “Work your job from 9-5, but from 5-9 save your genius for your own business” and “Save your money and it will save you.” Alton was appointed as the first Black Jury Foreman in Montgomery County Ohio’s history.  

​Alton was a dreamer and a voracious reader, who loved westerns, biographies, golfing, art, music (from blues to Bocelli), poetry, traveling, and history.  He studied finance, the stock market and he studied Warren Buffett, Rockefeller, Alexander Hamilton.  A “recovering” Republican, Alton voted Democrat for the first time when President Obama ran, and in every election since.

Alton is survived by his brother Cortez Walker of California and loving sister, Dean Ruby Jean Walker (retired) of Kansas; five children: Joycelyn, Alton II, Charles Christian, Allysunn and Kellie Brianne; 9 beloved grandchildren, Christian, Brandon, Tiona, Tyrell, CJ, Cierra, Lena Estelle, Sarah Frances and Charles III; 7 great-grandchildren; Pam Oxendine, a dear friend for many years; and a host of nieces, nephews, other loving relatives and friends.  He was preceded in death by his parents; his beloved sister, Doris Walker and his cool baby brother, Fred (Sonny) Walker, Jr.

​A private viewing for family members will be held at the H.H. Roberts Funeral Home on Friday, May 6, 2022, at 2PM. The Memorial Services will be held at 11:00 AM Saturday, May 7, at Mt. Enon Church, 1501 W. Third Street, Dayton, OH, with Pastor J.D. Grigsby officiating.  Visitation will be held from 10:00-11:00 AM. Flowers are welcome, and memorial gifts in Alton’s name may be sent to charity, the California Council on Economic Education, www.ccee.org.  Online condolences may be posted at www.hhroberts.com.  

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