JOAN WALKER

Joan Marilyn Walker was born June 9, 1949 to Freeman and
Mary B Crawford at Mercy Hospital in San Diego, CA. The second
of two children born to this union, the eldest child was Freeman
Crawford Jr all of them preceded her in death.
Joan enjoyed a varied and full childhood with plenty of
family and friends around her, who encouraged and challenged
her to be the best she could be. Her parents were both teachers
and she was always a good student, with a will to succeed and
the desire to excel. Joan excepted Christ at an early age and was
a member of Logan Temple AME church on 32nd & Clay St. She
represented the church at many Southern California Conferences
over the years. Never one to rest on her laurels Joan went into
politics (sort of) in an article in the San Diego Evening Tribune
Joan was featured as the newly elected SD Junior Mayor, where
more than 5,000 votes were cast by young people between the ages
of 12 and 21. The Junior Government of Southeast San Diego was a
functioning Jr. government for the community with a mayor, city
attorney and 16 council members that had a stated goal of having
the young people plan and execute their own community activities.
The sponsor of this election was Ted Patrick, president of the
Logan Height Businessmen’s association. After high school at San
Diego High Joan went on to attend SDSU where her stated major
was Elementary Education, but as fate would have it politics came
calling again in the name of Rev. George Stevens who wanted to
see if qualified African Americans would be hired by the airlines.
So, he went to SDSU and recruited women to go and apply; of
course, Joan was one of his first recruits. After being hired by PSA
(Pacific Southwest Airlines) Joan began a career path that would
last for the next 30 years, she was a Reservation Agent, Supervisor
and Trainer. After PSA was purchased by US Airways, she was
on of 12 selected by US Airways to train staff after the purchase
of Piedmont Airlines. She trained staff in Indiana, Utica, NY and
Orlando, FL. When US Airways decided to move its offices to
the East Coast Joan decided to retire.

Not being one to sit around Joan re-enrolled at San Diego State and completed her degree in
Sociology and embarked in a new career with Maximus Inc as a
trainer for Welfare to Work clients in conjunction with the County
of San Diego. She spent the next 10 years there before finally
retiring from work.
As an active member of New Creation Church of San Diego
Joan taught in the Christian Education Dept. She fell in love with
the study of her roots and began to study scripture from a Hebraic
(Jewish) perspective. This led to studies under several Messianic
Rabbis; Rabbi Barney Kasdan of Kehilat Ariel Messianic Synagogue
and Rabbi Joel Liberman of Tree of Life Messianic Jewish
Congregation. She studied and taught with the guidance of Pastor
Wendall Bass Sr. of New Creation, her “Down by the River” class
was her favorite and brought her the most joy of all.
Joan’s health began to fail, and she was diagnosed with MS
(Multiple Sclerosis) in 2016 with Dementia in 2018. Her MS was
very aggressive, and she soon lost her ability to walk and became
wheelchair bound. Even though she struggled to remember some
things she never forgot where her strength came from and that this
was a temporary situation. We are pilgrims traveling “through” a
foreign land. This place is not our home. At 10:10 am on June 15th
God in his infinite wisdom called my girl home as I held her hand
and my last words to here were “I’ll see you later” not Goodbye.
She was my friend, lover, and partner in all things for 48 years and
will be severely missed but until we meet in the “Olam Ha-Ba”
(World to Come). Love ya and see you later.
Joan was preceded in death by her Parents, Brother, and
eldest son Rudolph J Walker II. She will be missed dearly by her
husband Rudy; her son Elliot, his wife Avannia and their two
children Rudolph III “Rudy” & MacKenzie. She is survived by
loving in-laws, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, and a host
of long-time friends.

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