Former Sheriff Edd Walker dies

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Sheriff Edd Walker

January 21, 2013

Former Sheriff Edd Walker dies

Angie Thompson/The Tifton Gazette CNHI The Tifton Gazette Mon Jan 21, 2013, 11:25 PM EST

TIFTON — A long-time sheriff known for his fairness and willingness to give people another chance died at his home Monday. Former Tift County Sheriff Edd Walker, 84, died at his residence of congestive heart failure.

Walker worked with the Tift County Sheriff’s Office from 1960 until 1996. He served as a deputy for over 11 years and as Tift County sheriff for 24, from 1973 until 1996.

Current Tift County Sheriff Gene Scarbrough said that he met Walker, who was a sheriff’s deputy, when he began his career as a trooper with the Georgia State Patrol in 1979.

“He was a good, honest man and he cared about people,” Scarbrough said. “He had a lot of compassion for the people he served.”

Scarbrough said Walker tried to talk with people who he knew were going to get into serious trouble if they didn’t stop what they were doing and convince them to behave differently.

“I’ve seen him on calls and he would try to tell people they didn’t need to be doing this or that,” Scarbrough said. “He was firm when he had to be, but he was fair.”

Scarbrough said that, even recently, Walker would speak with people he didn’t know in a restaurant or other locations and stop and shake their hands.

“That pretty much sums up Sheriff Walker,” Scarbrough said.

Walker gave Gary Vowell, former Tift County sheriff, his first job in law enforcement at the old jail in 1975 when Vowell was 19.

“He was inspirational in helping me get on at the GSP after that,” Vowell said. “He’s just like family. There are a lot of great men who came up through this community, but there was no better or upstanding man than Edd Walker. I never felt like I filled those shoes of his. He was mighty good to the less fortunate and he taught me a lot of lessons about life and hot to treat people.”

Vowell said he could always call on Walker — and did so many times during his 16 years as sheriff.

“He was my mentor and I thank the Lord he let him be here those 16 years,” Vowell said.

Major Bobby Brannen said Walker also gave him a chance in 1976 and hired him at the age of 19 to work in the investigation division.

“I was a kid with a little over a year in law enforcement,” Brannen said. “I’ve been here ever since.”

Brannen described Walker as “a man’s man.”

“When he told you something, you could take it to the bank,” Brannen said.

Brannen said he’s glad he took the opportunity, and a chocolate cake (one of Walker’s favorites), over to visit Walker recently.

“I got an opportunity to sit and talk and reminisce a little and to tell him thank you for the chance he gave me. None of us know how long we are going to be here and that time I had with him was very special. I realized his health was failing and I had never told him how much I appreciated the opportunity he gave me.”

Brannen said Walker thanked him.

“He turned around and told me that I had made his job easier over the years,” Brannen said. “He thanked me for working hard. That is just priceless. He liked to tell folks he raised me and, really, in a sense he did.”

Brannen recalled how Walker was in his office at work on Dec. 31, 1996 — his last day as sheriff.

“His door was open and people could go in and talk to him about anything,” Brannen said. “I called him boss more than I called him sheriff.”

Brannen said Walker would ride with him on some investigations and stay out until early morning the next day trying to solve a case.

“I hate it that we couldn’t solve everything,” Brannen said. “There are those things that come to mind from time to time that we didn’t solve and it makes you feel helpless. He worried about things and tried to help everybody with their problems. There were times he was right beside me.”

Lt. Dennis Reese said Walker played a big part in his life. Reese was 20 in 1987 when Walker hired him as a deputy.

“He was a father figure to me,” Reese said. “I’ve always admired him. I liked the way he carried himself. He showed me the way a deputy is supposed to carry himself and he was a role model by the way that he treated people. He treated people the way he wanted to be treated and, at the same time, he was respected.”

Reese said he was working for Jack Stone at Western Auto when Walker called his house to offer him a job. He had put an application in for a position eight months earlier.

“I was at work and he told my mom to have me give him a call,” Reese said. “I wondered what I had done since the sheriff was calling me at the house. I was young.”

Reese talked with Walker and Walker hired him.

“He gave me that chance in my life,” Reese said. “He’s the reason I’m where I am today. My heart goes out to the Walker family. His wife is just like a mom to me as well. I didn’t feel like I was a deputy but a part of the family as well. I could always go to him and he was there to me. He passed along a lot to me under his leadership and guidance.”

Tift County Commissioner Grady Thompson said that he has known Walker since before he was sheriff, when Walker was a deputy under then-sheriff Tom Greet.

“We had a good relationship for many years,” Thompson said. “He was always in my corner and I was always in his.”

Walker was active at Tift Avenue Church of God; received the Raymond Merit Law Enforcement Award in 1996; the Georgia Sheriff’s Association Distinguished Humanitarian Award in 1979; The Georgia Sheriff’s Past Chairman’s Award in 1978 and 1979; the George A. Wright Memorial Award in 1997; and the Liberty Bell Award in 1992; as well as many other accolades and awards.

Walker’s full obituary will be published in Wednesday’s edition of The Tifton Gazette.

To contact reporter Angie Thompson, call 229-382-4321.

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