Hattie Grace Alexander Walker

Graveside Services for Hattie Grace Alexander Walker will be held at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 11, 2016, in Peppers Lake Cemetery, DeValls Bluff, Ark. Visitation will be held on Friday, Dec. 9, 2016, at John Kramer Funeral Home, Alexandria, La., from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Hattie Grace Alexander Walker, 94 of Alexandria, passed away on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016. She is preceded in death by her husband of 73 years, Raymond Bell Walker Sr.; her parents, Hubert and Ethel Kerr Alexander; and her siblings, Ruby, Anna Mae, Ralph, Daisy and Margie. She is survived by her eight children, Raynal, Anita, James, Aubrey, Raymond Jr., Raye, Helen, and Grace; as well as grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. Gifted with a richly textured childhood, Hattie Grace spent her early years on a small farm near DeValls Bluff, Arkansas. After graduating at the top of her class from Business College in Little Rock, she accepted a position as a nurse in McGehee where she met Raymond, and married in 1942. This beginning endured four years of service in the United States Navy during WWII, after which they settled in Alexandria in 1946, and it was here that they raised a large family and met the unique challenge of a career with the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Her touch with dark roast coffee, which filled a thermos unnumbered times, remains legend even today. The book she wrote, A Letter to Miriam, offers a glimpse not only of that full and busy life, but also of the strength and purity of heart with which she contributed invaluably. Above all Hattie Grace was a beautiful spirit of unwavering faith in God, and of dedicated love and devotion for Raymond who remained the very light and life of her heart. To extend online notes of condolence to the Walker Family, please visit www.kramerfunerals.com.