Terry Jay Walker

Terry's service will be livestreamed at the scheduled service time. Click Here to view the service.

Terry Jay Walker, 81, of Bucyrus, KS, passed away on Thursday, August 8, 2024, at Villa St Francis Catholic Care Center in Olathe, Ks.

He was born June 10, 1943, in Cleveland, Ohio, to Frank and Ina (Eymer) Walker.

Terry spent most of his early years in Chamberlain, Reliance and Kadoka, South Dakota. He loved baseball, spending many hours listening to his favorite team, the Dodgers, on home radio and later playing first base on his high school team.

He graduated from Mobridge, South Dakota High School in 1961. After high school he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served from 1961-1966, training in Electronics. Returning home, he worked for the electric company in Beatty, NV, before moving the to the Kansas City area. There he got his pilot’s license and became a flight instructor at the Wilson Flight Training Center. He successfully landed his plane on a city street in Kansas City when the engine failed while he was teaching a student.

He later worked on highway construction with his father and went on to get a degree in Civil Engineering at UMKC in 1978 and his Professional Engineer designation in 1983. After graduation he worked for Payless Cashways, often traveling to Tucson and Phoenix building new stores. Later he worked for the US Post Office designing new buildings before deciding to start his own company, Walker Engineering.

In his free time, he volunteered for the MS Society building ramps and doing home modifications for patients with Multiple Sclerosis.

Like his father Terry loved woodworking, building furniture and restoring old family pieces. A bookcase he built from wood reclaimed from boards from the barn at the Arthur Eymer farm near Reliance, South Dakota, holds his Uncle Quentin Eymer’s WWII memorabilia in the museum at Kennebec, South Dakota.

After retiring from Engineering, Terry helped build the museum at Reliance, South Dakota, and spent many weeks in the summer restoring a family claim shanty on his grandfather, Arthur Eymer’s farm near Reliance.

Terry remained a life-long baseball fan, though switching his allegiance to the Kansas City Royals. He had many interests and enjoyed everything from collecting and repairing old clocks to boating on the Kansas and Missouri rivers.

Terry was preceded in death by his parents Frank and Ina Walker, his son Jonathon Doyle (JD) Walker, the mother of his son, ex-wife Patricia (Doyle) Weeks, wife Deanna (Smithmier) Walker, and brothers-in-law, Dennis Zimmerman and William Schaber.

Terry is survived by his wife, Joanne, two sisters, Carole Zimmerman of Belle Fourche, S. D. and Linda Schaber of Kansas City, MO, daughter-in-law, Kelly Walker, grandchildren, Jacob and Peyton Walker, stepsons Rob Lober and Charles Lober and step-granddaughters, Kira Ponturo (Will), and Zoe, May-Hay, Lucy and Alex Lober.

To share a memory of Terry or leave a special message for his family, please visit the guestbook below.