THIS WEEK IN ST. JOHNS COUNTY HISTORY: FSDB president Dr. Albert Hayne Walker dies in 1927
Editor's note: The St. Augustine Evening Record published this story Nov. 22, 1927.
Dr. Albert Hayne Walker, president of the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind is dead.
Death claimed this well-known citizen and noted educator late Nov. 21, 1927, when he was apparently in the fullness of life, health and strength, and had just finished a round of golf at the St. Augustine Country Club. He was in good spirits and had played an exceptionally good game, friends said. The collapse was sudden, complete and totally unexpected, and Dr. Walker was immediately rushed to Flagler Hospital for attention, those with him feeling that the case might not be hopeless after all. However, death was instantaneous, due to heart failure.
Throughout Monday Dr. Walker seemed to be in normal health and spirits. He attended to his duties at the State School as usual. At 1 o’clock he was at the Rotary luncheon and entered heartily into the program, being as one of the members put it, “the life of the party.” His accustomed round of golf at the country club completed the day’s activity, and also stilled a life which has meant a great deal in St. Augustine for over a quarter of a century.
Active pallbearers will be H.N. Rodenbaugh, J.D. Puller, J.D. Rahner, T.V. Pomar, F.W. Kirkland, Judge George William Jackson, C. Gilbert and Dr. W.E. Burnett.
Honorary pallbearers will be C.A. Lamont, G.B. Lamar, X. Lopez, Colonel W.A. MacWilliams, General A.H. Blanding, Judge W.B. Davis, Edward Lane, Colonel F.H. Sargent, P.K. Yonge, Charles E. Young, Herbert Felkel, E.L. Wartman, Dr. W.N. Parkinson, Dr. E.S. Estes, H.W. Davis, Reginald White, J.T. Diamond, George W. Bassett Jr., and General J.C.R. Foster.
Among the honorary pallbearers are members of the State Board of Control, who expect to be here for the service.
Dr. Walker has long been considered an authority in his line and he built up an institution for the education of the deaf and the blind in which Florida citizens have taken great pride. He may be said to be a leader in his profession for his views formed from long experience on housing, instruction, and discipline have been sought by other educators in this line of work.
Dr. Walker had affected several mechanical devices, inventions of his own, used in reaching the isolated brain of a deaf child, which have been adopted by other educators for the deaf.
When the national association of educators of the deaf, including principals of schools for the deaf the country over, met in St. Augustine several years ago, some of the leaders, including heads of schools in New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan and California emphasized the fact that Dr. Walker was at the top of his chosen profession, that his advice was constantly sought by them in their work, and that there has never been a year in which he did not receive most attractive propositions to go elsewhere.
But Dr. Walker was in love with St. Augustine, and here he has watched the institution, for which he has so long been responsible, grow from year to year, from a small, struggling, badly equipped school accommodating less than 100 pupils, into one of the foremost institutions for the education of the deaf and the blind in this country, with an enrollment of practically 300.
All of the buildings on the campus are handsome, modern and fireproof. The equipment is of the best, and the teaching staff carefully chosen. Some years ago, Dr. Walker mapped out a building plan which had the approval of the State Board of Control, and each progressive step has brought the school nearer the ideal, the plan as made by Dr. Walker.
Considerable work along the building line has been done the past two or three years, and a new building is now under construction.
The Florida State School for the Deaf and the Blind, developed to a high point of efficiency by Dr. Walker’s wise and careful administration, has long been a place where hundreds of boys and girls have been taught to become citizens.
While attending strictly to his business, Dr. Walker found time to take an active interest in the progress of the city, and was deeply concerned in public affairs. He was held in high esteem and profound respect by his fellow townsmen, being a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the St. Augustine Country Club, the Episcopal Church, the Knights of Pythias, the Moose, the St. Augustine Yacht Club and the Sons of the American Revolution. He was a Director of the Commercial Bank and a Trustee of Flagler Hospital.
He held an A.B. from South Carolina University. He was also a Litt. D., this being an honorary degree conferred on him by the University of Florida. Dr. Walker was a charter member of the St. Augustine Rotary Club, and had countless friends and admirers throughout the city and state.
He represented St. Augustine Rotary Club at the international Rotary meet at Ostend, Belgium, this past summer, and after the Rotary convention, he, with Mrs. Walker, toured Europe, visiting many places of interest and importance.
Dr. A.H. Walker was born March 27, 1870, at Cedar Springs, S.C., the son of the late Dr. N.F. Walker, and Virginia Eppes Walker, of Laurens, S.C. He was reared at Cedar Springs, where his father was president of the State School for the Deaf and the Blind, a position which his father, Dr. N.P. Walker, had held before him.
So, Dr. A.H. Walker of St. Augustine was the third generation to carry on this particular line of educational work. The Walkers are one of the best known families in the country to have engaged in this line of endeavor, which has such endless possibilities for doing good.
Dr. Walker, who came to this state almost 26 years ago, had taught in Texas and Tennessee schools for the blind before coming to Florida. For four years, he was an instructor in the Florida school. He had been president of the school for a little over 21 years.
This article originally appeared on St. Augustine Record: This Week in History: FSDB president Dr. Albert Hayne Walker dies in 1927
