Jack Robert Walker, born on May 12, 1925, in Moline, Illinois, passed peacefully in his sleep on Tuesday, October 20, 2020, in Long Beach, California, at age 95. The son of Harry Walker and Virginia (Wirt) Walker, Jack grew up in Moline, and attended Moline High School.

From September 2, 1943 to March 8, 1946, during World War II, he served in the U.S. Army Air Corps (later the U.S. Air Force), where he was a member of a top secret Ground Controlled Approach Radar Unit, which was first implemented in February 1945 on the island of Iwo Jima. A Radar Mechanic GCA (863), Walker was part of a team tasked with assisting bomber and fighter plane pilots in making Ground Controlled Approach (GCA) landings, with the pilots following the landing instructions from the radar unit crews on the ground due to the conditions of zero visibility common at Iwo Jima. This was a new technology at the time.

Walker was honorably discharged in 1946, with the rank of Sergeant, having been awarded two Overseas Service Bars, an American Campaign Medal, an Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal W/1, Bronze Battle Stars, a Good Conduct Medal, a World War II Victory Medal and a Meritorious SV Unit Plaque.

After completing his service, Jack attended Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, where he completed a four year course in three years, earning his bachelor's degree in Pre-Law in 1949. After working for several companies in his hometown, including Equitable Life and International Harvester, Jack moved to Chicago in the early 1950s.

While working in the credit department at the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company (manufacturers of bowling and recreational equipment), he met and married Doris Isaak in 1958. Two years later in 1960, Jack was promoted to the position of Western Region Credit Manager for Brunswick, and he and Doris moved west to Los Angeles. Jack would remain a resident of Southern California for his final 60 years.

Jack and Doris settled in Dana Point, California, where their two sons Brent and Blair were raised. In 1966, Jack left Brunswick to become an appraiser for the County of Orange Assessor's Office, retiring in 1995 after 29 years of service in the areas of both commercial and residential property.

Jack was an ardent fan of jazz music, with Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman among his favorites. He often spoke enthusiastically of such experiences as seeing Billie Holiday at a Chicago nightclub in the 1950s, where she sat at his table and conversed with him and his party between sets. He was also an ardent appreciator of art, literature, theater and travel.

Jack leaves his two sons, Brent and Blair, and his granddaughter Daisy.