Lasting Memories

Newman M. Walker
1931-Feb. 2, 2009
Palo Alto, California

Newman M. Walker, former Palo Alto schools superintendent, died of a heart attack Sunday morning, Feb. 1, after an active week attending dinners, events and a Stanford women's basketball game.

He was superintendent of Palo Alto schools from 1975 to 1985 --during some of the district's most difficult years of declining enrollment, loss of funding and school closures. Walker suffered a serious stroke in 2001, which affected his balance, but otherwise had remained actively interested in the community, schools and Stanford sports, particularly women's basketball. .Walker came to Palo Alto from Louisville, Ky., where he was in charge of an explosive integration of two school districts, black and white, under a court order. He arrived in Palo Alto during a time of plummeting enrollment and resultant school closures. He later recounted his arrival, when he drove straight from the San Francisco airport to a meeting of angry parents protesting a school closure. He immediately demonstrated a style that made him memorable to many associates and parents: He walked to the podium and began by thanking the outraged parents turning out "to welcome me to Palo Alto." Ray Bacchetti, who served on the Board of Education when Walker was superintendent, said Walker "had the charm, brains, toughness and humanity to run our school system when Palo Alto was losing both kids and money – a situation guaranteed to devour most superintendents. "Newman knew his business, put public education at the center of democracy, loved kids and ran our district with his inimitable mix of toughness and humanity," Bacchetti said. Current Superintendent Kevin Skelly said he had lunch with Walker soon after Skelly became superintendent and showed him around the district offices. "He remarked that it looked much the same as when he was here," Skelly recalled. "He was very helpful in the advice that he gave and the history of the district." Walker "led this district during the most difficult times possible. He and the board made some very tough, unpopular decisions that had to be made. "Whenever I think my job is hard, I think about how much more challenging it was for him," Skelly said.

Wife Ann Walker recalled Walker's final week as one filled with events, friends and sports. She said they awoke about 5:30 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 1, talked a few minutes and then Walker said he planned to sleep in, and she said, "Me, too." But within a half hour Walker started having chest seizures and was unresponsive to her. She called 911 and Walker was later pronounced dead at Stanford Hospital, apparently from a heart attack.

Walker was a native of Monett, Mo. After high school and receiving a B.S. degree from Southwest Missouri State, Walker taught in Rolla, Mo., before serving three years in the U.S. Air Force. He received an M.A. degree from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and an Ed.D. in school administration from George Peabody College in Nashville, Tenn.

At age 27, he was named superintendent of schools in Mountain Grove, Mo., and later became the youngest superintendent ever hired in Paducah, Ky. He was named superintendent in Louisville, Ky., where he became embroiled in a bitter court-ordered integration-merger of two school districts in a racially explosive time.

He accepted the superintendent job in Palo Alto in 1975, replacing retiring Superintendent Harold Santee. In addition to plunging enrollment, Walker had to deal with the impact of the 1978 Proposition 13, the statewide property-tax revolt, and later statewide school district equalization measures to balance funding for districts.

When Walker and his wife relocated to Palo Alto, they brought with them a teenager from a large neighboring family that could not afford to send him to college. The youth lived with them in Palo Alto for several months while he worked for a fast-food restaurant and bought, fixed up and resold motorcycles and later cars for income. The youth, Roger Cwiak, later attended Foothill College and Santa Clara University, studying civil engineering. After graduation he joined the City of Palo Alto staff, from which he recently retired after 28 years. The Walkers attended a retirement party for Cwiak the week prior to Walker's death.

In addition to his wife, Walker is survived by a daughter, Melanie Walker of San Francisco, and two sons, Keith Walker and Kelvin Walker (wife, Jan Hawkins), both of San Jose. The Walkers also enjoyed their role as honorary grandparents to Chanel and Tiffany Miller and Christopher Tseng.