William (Bill) Aloysius Walker, Jr.
SAN ANTONIO - William (Bill) Aloysius Walker, Jr., age 86 of San Antonio, Texas, died peacefully on January 7th, 2021. He was born on October 14th, 1934 in Chicago, Illinois and is survived by his wife of 33 years Karen Seiler Walker.
Bill was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois through the 8th grade. As a young Chicagoan and baseball fan, Bill developed a love for the Cubs. After the 8th grade, he moved to Memphis, Tennessee, and attended Christian Brothers High School where he excelled in basketball and golf.
After high school, he joined the Army during the Korean War and served as a clerk at the SHAPE NATO headquarters in Fontainebleau, France.
After military service, he married Susan Tharp Walker in 1958 and attended the University of Texas at Austin. He graduated from Memphis State with a B.S. degree in Physical Education / Education in 1962.
Then, Bill’s coaching career started with a position as swim coach with the Jewish Community Center in Memphis and was instrumental in building their swim program.
In 1967, he coached high school basketball in Mercedes, Texas.
In 1968, he coached and developed the AAU Harlingen Swim Team while also coaching at the Marine Military Academy and Harlingen High School. A proud moment as a swim coach was the AAU swim team finishing 3rd in the TAGS state championship meet with his swimmers from Harlingen, which was unprecedented for such a small team to finish that high in the team standings!
In 1970, he joined San Antonio’s North East Independent School District (NEISD) as Aquatics Coordinator and head swim coach over all of the NEISD high schools. He was also head swim coach for the AAU San Antonio Aquatic Club (SAAC), and used his passion to develop the Learn to Swim program for all 3rd graders in the school district.
In 1976, he moved to Mcallen where he was given the same responsibilities as his previous duties in San Antonio. He was able to continue with his passion of teaching children to swim while he was head swim coach at Mcallen High School and head swim coach for the AAU Mcallen Swim Club. He had many fond memories of his time coaching in the Rio Grande Valley and loved the people and living in that part of Texas.
Returning to San Antonio in 1982, he resumed his previous duties as Aquatics Coordinator for NEISD until he retired in 2001. Bill earned many, many awards including Coach of the Year several times. He was very proud to have taught more than 300,000 children how to swim through the Swim America program. Along with the people he encountered in his career, his greatest honor and legacy is the Bill Walker Pool at NEISD in San Antonio.
Bill loved playing cards, especially duplicate bridge and became a Life Master at age 29, and eventually Emerald Life Master.
Bill volunteered at the Bexar County Jail for many years, teaching Centering Prayer and leading AA 12 Step Meetings - as he proudly celebrated 35 years of sobriety himself.
He is survived by his wife Karen Seiler Walker, sister Jean Kopsky, sisterin-law Mary Jo Walker and former wife Susan Tharp Walker.
His surviving children by Susan Tharp Walker are Christy Walker, Gregg Walker, Randy Walker, Sabra Walker Nelson, Sean Walker and Chip Walker; daughters-in-law Chris Walker, Elizabeth Walker and Sue Donarski Walker; son-in-law Daniel Nelson; grandchildren Jake Walker, Becky Walker, Evan Walker, Bailey Walker, Ella Nelson, Zachary Hall and Madison Hall; great grandchildren Luke Walker and Blake Walker.
His surviving step-children are GK Parish-philp, Stephen Philp and Dana Schmit, and 6 grandchildren.
He is also survived by numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.
He is preceded in death by his father William A. Walker, Sr. and mother Catherine Bracken Walker; brother John B. Walker and sister Joan Walker Lee; brothers-in-law Boyd J. Lee II and John Kopsky.
Bill will be dearly missed by his family and friends. He treasured all of the people he met and knew both personally and professionally.
Bill will be buried with military honors at Fort Sam Houston. We are planning graveside and church services in February but due to COVID-19 the services will be limited to immediate family members. We plan to have a memorial service in the Summer or Fall of this year, when it is safe for everyone to travel and gather.
In lieu of flowers, you may send donations in honor of Bill Walker to USA Swimming Foundation: https://www.usaswimming.org/foundation
Please leave your memories online and get updates about the memorial service here: https://everloved.com/life-of/william-walker-jr/
God, grant me the Serenity To accept the things I cannot change... Courage to change the things I can, And Wisdom to know the difference. Amen