Rodney Walker; Noted Designer, Home Builder
June 21, 1986
Rodney Walker, a home designer and builder who helped
pioneer an architectural style of simple forms and extensive use of wood, has
died in Ojai at age 75. His family said he had been ill with cancer for six
years.
Walker, who was born in Salt Lake City Sept. 15, 1910,
studied engineering and art at UCLA, then worked for a time for the late Los
Angeles architect Rudolph M. Schindler. He preferred to be the builder of the
homes he designed, in order to make certain that his ideas were carried out. He
was known for being able to hold down construction costs.
Walker designed numerous "case-study" homes,
exploring the adaptability of new ideas in small houses. Some of his work will
be featured in an upcoming display at the Museum of Contemporary Art in
downtown Los Angeles.
He had lived since 1958 in the Ojai home that he designed
and built and that he considered his masterpiece. After he discontinued home
designing and contracting, he ran the Oaks hotel in Ojai for the past 15 years
and operated a store in which he sold jewelry that he crafted.
He died Wednesday. He is survived by his wife, Dorothea;
sons, Craig, Bruce and Mark, as well as twin daughters, Ellen Langston and Lisa
Kaufman. He also leaves a sister.
Craig Walker said a memorial service will not be held until
August to permit one of the sons to come from his home in Australia.
Los Angeles Times
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ReplyDeleteThis morning, in adding the information found last night to the familysearch records, I located Bessie M Fox LT53-997, so now I can add to the previous comment that Julia's stepfather was - for a short time at least - Cecil W. Edwards and she went by Julie Edwards in the 1940 Census. Someone has that Bess died in 1946 - I cannot verify that - but it would help explain why, in 1952 Julia puts the wrong name on her marriage certificate. I also found that Julia is named after her grandmother Julia Marguerite Endsley Fox - so researchers can go back a couple of generations further, based on just this info.
DeleteOops! I'm so sorry for that big mistake.
DeleteBut thank-you because now I have the right person and
It's actually making a lot more sense!
Thanks for your interest. It allowed me to really dive into some research for Julia Walker Clark Kirby's family -
ReplyDeleteWhile it is true that Julia did have "Rodney Walker" on her marriage certificate, so she herself seemed to believe that this was her father, she said in that document that her father was born in Texas - and Rodney was from Utah. So, that was a clue.
The next found on that marriage certificate was her mother, Bessie M. Fox. Another document I found was Julia's Oct. 12, 1933 birth certificate.
Finally, I found a third document - A July 30th, 1933 marriage certificate for Roger C (Cunningham) Walker of Texas, and Bessie M Fox of Nebraska.
Finally, I found Roger, in Honolulu in the 1940 census, married to Helen - not Bessie - and having no daughter named Julia. As I also can't find Bessie or Julia in the 1940 census, it's predictable that Bessie is living with another man and she provided herself and her daughter with that man's last name for the census taker. Perhaps they were married and later divorced. Perhaps she was simply desperate, but by the time Julia marries, she has reverted to her father's rather than step-father's surname.
Fortunately for the family, Roger Cunningham Walker's sources are readily available, for free, on Familysearch.org - Do Not trust Ancestry. You can't do this kind of research off of one or two documents and just plug that into an expansive family tree. If you do, you'll make lots of mistakes.
Yes, Julia Maybelle Walker was not a daughter of Rodney Asbury Walker. Thanks for clearing that up!
ReplyDelete