Morgan W. Walker, Jr.

Who was Morgan W. Walker, Jr.?

Morgan Wailes Walker, Jr. was a prominent businessman invested in farming, cattle ranching, catfish production, restaurant management, and banking, originally from Alexandria, the seat of Rapides Parish and the largest city in Central Louisiana.

Walker was one of six children born to Morgan W. Walker, Sr., a native of Dodson in Winn Parish. Walker's mother, the former Genevieve James, was the youngest of fourteen children born to Mr. and Mrs. William Calvit James, originally from Boyce in northern Rapides Parish. The senior Walker, who graduated with a business degree from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, owned Walker Cloverland Dairy, which subsequently became Walker-Roemer Dairy. Beginning with a taxi service, the senior Walker also established Trans-Continental Bus Lines, the forerunner of Continental Trailways. For a time, Walker, Sr., was also the president of the Rapides Parish School Board and, from 1970 to 1978, was chairman of the board of former Guaranty Bank and Trust Company.

Walker, Jr., grew up on the family plantation off Horseshoe Drive in Alexandria. In his teens, he delivered milk for the family dairy. Like his mother, he became accomplished at horsemanship. He was an Eagle Scout. He graduated in 1947 after four years of study at the defunct Sewanee Military Academy in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He soon left Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge to work in farming and ranching in Louisiana. In the early 1950s, during the Korean War, Walker joined the Seabees Reserve and was honorably discharged in 1954 from the United States Navy.