Clear, 38° F
(Sept. 25, 2007)
Viola (Punky) Carol Walker died Tuesday, Sept. 25 at the home of her daughter in Powell. She was 70.
A resident of Greybull, she had been residing at the home of her younger daughter in Powell for the last two weeks after being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.
She was born in Greybull April 4, 1937, to George Merrill and Luella Cynthia (Kunkle) Clement. She married Thomas H. Knight in April of 1955, graduating that same year from high school in Greybull. Two daughters were born to this union: Luella Carol and Vickie Lynn. The couple later divorced.
Viola worked at a dress shop in Greybull, waitressed during hunting season at Bluejackets Restaurant and was bookkeeper for Empire Gas Co. for many years. She loved to fly and couldn’t wait to catch a ride on a plane when her friends at Hawkins & Powers were taking a trip.
She married James (Mick) Walker in the fall of 1972, and the family moved to Powell. For the next several years, Punky was a homemaker, helped Mick at the bowling alley and chauffeured the girls and their friends to bowling tournaments. She was an avid bowler also, bowling her high game of 278 at Class Lanes. She was the chauffeur for the Powell High School cheerleading squad and mascot for two years, traveling the state to football and basketball games.
Punky returned to Greybull in 1987 where she worked at Lisa’s, then Ron’s Food Farm until she retired to care for her mother.
She will be remembered by family as a loving and caring mother, sister and friend. She enjoyed spending time with her children and grandchildren, close friends, her brother, Don, and sister-in-law, Sharon. She loved boating and cooking, spending time at the cabin, reading, riding motorcycles, water skiing and watching sports.
She was a member of The Birthday Club and Eagles Auxiliary and sat on the board of directors of South Big Horn Senior Citizens.
Survivors include her two loving daughters, Carol Knight and Vickie Johnson, both of Powell; her brother, Donald R. Clement (Sharon) of Phoenix, Ariz.; and two grandchildren, Kyle Johnson of Powell and Whitney Gebauer (Levi) of Greeley, Colo.
Memorial services will be Saturday, Oct. 6 at 10 a.m. at Grace Southern Baptist Church in Greybll. Rev. Pete Kuhn will officiate. Immediately following, a reception for family and friends will be held at the Greybull Elks Lodge.
For those who wish, an account has been set up at Big Horn Federal Savings Bank, P.O. Box 471, Greybull, WY 82426, with the proceeds going to the Greybull Volunteer Fire Department and the local ambulance service.
Atwood Family Funeral Directors is assisting the family.
