Granderson Field Walton Junior
Granderson Field Walton Junior was known as
‘Granny’ to his friends, and as ‘Granny-pop’ to his two grandchildren, Matthew Patton and Jennifer
Walton-wetzel. After a long struggle with congestive heart failure, Granny died at home with his wife of
71 years, Jesslyn Austin Walton, his daughters, Marsha Walton and Barbara Austin, and his son-in-law
Chris Wetzel. Granny served for twenty years in the
United States Marine Corps, service that included two tours in Vietnam. In 2019 he published Twenty
Years and a Day: Stories of my Marine Corps Service, which he proudly described as an account with “no gore, no violence, and nothing bad to say about anybody.” Having found an authorial voice, and aware that his heart was failing, Granny scrambled to collect stories of his boyhood, of courting Jesslyn and making a family with her, of all the cars he owned, and of various wilderness adventures, which he published in a second volume in 2020, Boyhood Memories and Assorted Life Stories. The memories collected in both books reveal a man of deep faith and integrity who loved nature, loved tinkering and building things, and was intensely loyal to his family, his church, and his country. Granny believed in heaven as a place with no pain or sorrow, with heavenly choirs, and with streets of gold. It is easy to imagine him in such a place, but what we really hope is that on those streets of gold, some people put things out on the curb that they don’t want anymore — banged up furniture, lawn mowers, broken vacuum cleaners (would they even have vacuum cleaners in heaven?) We hope that Granny can pick those things up, refurbish them, and give them to someone who will get some more use out of them. We love the idea of Granny singing in a heavenly choir. But what we really hope is that they could use some maintenance on a glorious pipe organ. There is probably no reason to have clocks in heaven, but maybe, just for the joy of it, they have bell towers. Granny would love to keep the clock running in the bell tower. Streets of gold are great but let us hope that heaven also has trails through a forest, and maybe Granny could be dispatched to trail maintenance. Even better, we hope he gets the job of clearing some new trails — off those golden highways, along a lovely stream to a beautiful lake. Maybe they need Granny to build some nesting boxes for the heavenly wood ducks and to keep watch when the sea turtles lay their eggs, and to make sure that the hatchlings make their way to the sea. Even though mansions have been prepared for Granderson Field Walton, we hope that in heaven, he can occasionally sleep in a tent instead. But on Sunday mornings, in heaven, just as he was on Earth, Granny will be handsomely dressed, and he will be the first to arrive at church. He’ll open the doors, make sure that everything is in order, and he will extend warm greetings and Christian love to all who arrive. He’ll slip a piece of candy from his pocket into the hands of a squiggly little one, and when the time comes for his wife Jesslyn to join him in heaven, he’ll slip into the seat beside her and they’ll hold hands for the opening prayer. Interment will be in West Tennessee State Veterans Cemetery with military honors on Wednesday (Mar 10) at 11:00am. The family requests that if you want to honor Granderson in a way he would appreciate, make a donation to your own favorite veterans’ organization in his name. Or if you would prefer to plant a tree in his name he would love that also.
Munford Funeral Home, Millington Chapel, (901) 873-0123, Munfordfuneralhome.com