Earlene Lott Walker, 86
August 15, 1938 – March 17, 2025
Funeral Service honoring the life of Mrs. Walker will be at 2 PM Friday March 21, 2025, in the Heritage Chapel of the Ripley Funeral Home. Visitation will be from 11 AM until time of service on Friday March 21, 2025, at Ripley Funeral Home. Burial will follow in the Tiplersville Cemetery.
Earlene Lott Walker, 86, of Ripley, MS, passed away March 17, 2025. She was born August 15, 1938, in New Hebron, MS to the late Henry and Elizabeth Lott. She is survived by three children: Beth (Al) Bailey, Jim (Sherry) Walker, and Henry (Lisa) Walker. Mrs. Walker is also survived by two brothers, Charles Lott and Billy Ray Lott, both of New Hebron, MS, and a sister, Frances Boyanton. Fifteen grandchildren and eight-teen great-grandchildren round out the family. She was married to Rev. James R Walker, SR August 28, 1958. Rev. Walker passed away January 22, 2025. They were married for 66 years.
Mrs. Walker made her profession of faith in her early teen years and lived her life in service to the Lord Jesus Christ. In all that she did for the rest of her life, she reflected the love and service that the true Christian faith embraces.
Education and service were important aspects of Mrs. Walker’s life. She graduated from Prentiss Consolidated High School (Prentis, MS) in 1956. Being the first person in her family to graduate from college, she received the Associate of Arts degree from Clarke College in 1958. Later, while taking care of children, she received education credits from other universities as she improved her professional status. She received the B.S. in Elementary Education from Blue Mountain College in 1981, one year after her daughter graduated with the same degree. She also received regular training and certification in school food service. Besides being the helpful wife of a Baptist pastor at each church field, Mrs. Walker worked many different jobs in many different places. Her responsibilities ranged from personnel clerk, school secretary, and kindergarten teacher to food service supervisor and Child Nutrition Director for Clay County, MS, and for New Albany, MS.
The Walkers served Baptist churches all over Mississippi including Ellison Ridge in Louisville, Macedonia in Louisville, New Prospect in Oxford, Riverside in Clarksdale, Oak Grove in Pinola, Springdale in Ripley, Phoeba in Phoeba, and Tiplersville in Tiplersville. Community service was a mainstay of Mrs. Walker’s passion for helping people. Besides helping out with local church responsibilities and a working a full-time job, Mrs. Walker helped her children with 4-H projects. In service beyond the local church, Mrs.
Walker was active in Baptist Associations doing English as Second Language instruction. The Walkers regularly visited missionary family members in Costa Rica and Guatemala, and, after 9-11, served as short-term missionaries in Maryland sponsored by the North American Mission Board. In Ripley, MS, Mrs. Walker was briefly the Director of the Good Samaritan Center, an inter-faith food bank. Mrs. Walker was very active in Mississippi Women on Mission, and the Walkers were among the charter members of the Mississippi Missionary Parents Fellowship.
Family service was also important to Mrs. Walker. She dearly loved her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. She found time in her busy schedule to be with family as much as possible and to teach along the way. “Granny”, as she was called, always had something good to eat, and was known as ‘quite the cook.’ Many kind things might be said of “Granny,” but most comments included her cooking and her love for Christ.
In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the General Scholarship Fund of Blue Mountain Christian University.
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