Photo: Mike and Joy Walker
A husband and wife are part of the Class of 2019 for the Mountain Home Education Foundation’s Hall of Honor. Mike and Joy Walker are the Earnest Perry Retired Classified Staff honorees for this year.
The Walkers were residing in Jonesboro, but before they got married, Mike told Joy he wanted to relocate to Mountain Home, after falling in love with the Twin Lakes Area at an early age.
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Joy says she was originally apprehensive about moving from Jonesboro, especially since Mountain Home did not have a mall.
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When the Walkers moved to Mountain Home, Mike began building spec houses. He was skilled in all facets of construction including framing, wiring, plumbing and painting.
Joy stayed at home with the couple’s sons, until they both entered school. She was later hired by the Mountain Home School District and ran the computer lab at Nelson-Wilks-Herron Elementary School for the first 10 of her 25 years with the district. She later moved to the central office of the elementary campus and finished her career in the front office at Mountain Home Kindergarten, before retiring nearly two years ago. Joy says being in different places exposed her to different aspects of the school district.
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Six years after Joy Walker joined the district, her husband was contacted by Superintendent Steve Singleton about the open position of director of Auxiliary Services. Mike began his 20-year career working on several projects. Over 60 acres of land were purchased by the school board during his time at Mountain Home, and that land now contains the district’s central offices, Hackler Intermediate School and McClain Park.
Mike Walker has been retired for a little over a year, and he says one thing he learned about being the auxiliary services director is that it’s about more than just building construction.
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Mike and Joy Walker will be recognized during the Mountain Home Education Foundation’s Night of Honors Thursday evening at 5:30 at the Vada Sheid Community Development Center on the campus of Arkansas State University-Mountain Home. Tickets are $45 and can be reserved by contacting Jennifer Seaman at the foundation office at 870-425-1228 or by emailing mhef@mhbombers.com.
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