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The Park University Alumni
Association’s Torchlighter Award recognizes a special
person who has made a significant, long-standing
contribution to Park students and alumni. The 2007
Torchlighter Award recipient is Daley Walker,
faculty emeritus, who also became an honorary alumnus.
Walker retired from Park University
in 2006 after teaching 43 years in Park’s math
department, serving as department chair full time from
the 1970s until 2004, when he transitioned into a part
time teaching role.
Many students, including non-math
majors, credit him for their success at Park and in
their personal lives. “It was Daley who displayed the
beautiful flow of mathematics. Mathematics became more
than just a bunch of number crunching,” said Paul S.
Curtis, ’05, former student turned math teacher. “Daley
Walker changed my whole outlook on mathematics.”
Walker’s patience and gentle
persistence coaxed students beyond what they thought
they could accomplish. He taught a complex subject with
simple, understandable explanations. He never quit on
his students, patiently repeating the lessons until they
understood the material.
His methods even impressed his
colleagues, prompting Ann Schultis, director of library
systems, to tell the nominating committee that “Daley
taught innumerable independent studies for students who
needed a class to graduate, and I observed him teaching
one-on-one many times in his office or the coffee shop,
or by talking with students in the hall.”
Upon retirement, Walker told a
reporter for The Stylus, Park’s student newspaper, the
reason he spent his entire career at Park was because he
loved the people with whom he worked. The math
department especially had been a close, supportive
group. Students continually stopped by his office and
still visit his home when they return to Parkville.
Walker has been an integral part of
the Park Family. In addition to his academic
contributions, he helped start Park’s baseball team and
coached for several years in the 1970s.
His students are delighted by what
they call his “eccentricities.” He removed the door to
his office to illustrate his “open door” policy. He
handwrote his tests, creating a new version each
semester, refused to use a computer and staunchly clung
to his original office furniture, even retrieving it
from the dumpster after the University upgraded and
discarded it.
Walker and wife Dixie have been
married more than 50 years. They have one son, (Park
graduate Steve Walker, ’76), two daughters, and five
granddaughters.
Upon hearing the announcement of
the award selection, Greg Abanavas, ’75, former student,
baseball player and now friend, wrote "One doesn't need
to be on CNN or Sportcenter to display their abilities
or measure their worth. Your deeds should be able to
stand on their own, as greatness by itself, speaks
volumes. Daley Walker's legacy needs no false support.
It will always stand tall, withstanding all tests of
time."
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