Husband Wallace Delamater Walker 1
Born: 25 Mar 1887 - Meadville, Crawford Co, PA 1
Christened:
Died: 4 Feb 1939 - Meadville, Crawford Co, PA 2
Buried:
Father: Col. Lewis Walker (1855-1938) 3
Mother: Susan Adelaide Delamater (1859- ) 1 4
Marriage: 27 May 1925 2
Wife Fanniebelle McVey 2
Born:
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Father: John Emmet McVey ( - ) 2
Mother:
Other Spouse: Robert McDowell Allen ( - ) 2
Children
General Notes: Husband - Wallace Delamater Walker
He received his preliminary education in the public schools of Meadville, Pennsylvania, and subsequently entered the University of Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated in 1910. He began his active career with the Carnegie Steel Company, in whose employ he spent four years at Youngstown, Ohio, but in 1914 he joined his father in the Hookless Fastener Company. Entering the sales department of the organization, he was rapidly advanced to positions of executive responsibility and became eastern sales manager with headquarters in New York City. This office he filled until 1928, in which year the present name of the company, Talon, Inc., was adopted. After setting up a sales and distribution organization for the Pacific Coast States, Mr. Walker retired from active participation in the management of the company, but continued on its directorate. Following an interval of five years, in 1933, he returned to the organization as vice-president and controller and in 1937 was elected treasurer and assistant to the president. His father, who continued to hold the presidency, died in 1938, and Mr. Walker succeeded him as head of the company, serving until his own death within the year. As president, he controlled an organization employing more than four thousand people and producing some three-quarters of all the slide fasteners manufactured in the United States. Three plants at Meadville and one in Erie constituted the manufacturing department of the company, which also had branch offices in Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Chicago and distributing offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle.
Mr. Walker was a man of enterprising spirit and great personal force. He early visioned the many uses to which the slide fastener was adaptable, and with his brother, Lewis Walker, Jr., he vigorously promoted its use in manufacturing industries where it had not previously gained a foothold, overcoming inertia, prejudice and past custom. The rapid development of the corporation in recent years was largely due to his pioneer work and rare talent for organization.
The same qualities marked other phases of his life. As a member of one of Crawford County's leading families, he always recognized the obligations of his position and had many civic responsibilities, which he met with characteristic zeal. Mr. Walker was a member of the Meadville Board of Education from 1928 to 1939, was a director of the Meadville City Hospital and was active in the Meadville Cemetery Association. From 1935 to 1937 he was president of the Meadville Country Club, and there were few Meadville institutions which did not benefit in some degree from his active leadership or effective support. Mr. Walker was also a member of the Duquesne Club of Pittsburgh, the Rolling Rock Hunt Club of Ligonier, the Iroquois Boating and Fishing Club of Conneaut Lake and the Uptown Club of New York City. A thorough sportsman, he was fond of all outdoor recreations, particularly golf and hunting, and for some years annually visited the Canadian Northwest to hunt big game. During the World War, he enlisted in the United States Army, was commissioned first lieutenant and assigned to duty with the 350th Field Artillery, with which he served overseas as a member of the American Expeditionary Forces, acting as battery commander and battery executive. He received his honorable discharge from the service in March, 1919, and resumed his career in civil life. [HNP, 14]