Walter Robert Calk's Obituary
CALK, WALTER was born June 19, 1920 to Della Mae Rowe and Calvin Cecil Calk in Little Rock, Arkansas. He was their only child. He counts among his relatives General Robert E. Lee and General Albert Sidney Johnston. Walter was a graduate of Little Rock Central High School. He is survived by his wife of 72 years, Fayzola Lyons Calk, daughter and son-in-law, Judith and Ritchie Croft, and grandchildren, Ryan and Ashley. Ernest Hemingway wrote; “No one lives forever, no matter how badly you may want to. The Stories they will tell of you will be about the adventures you went through as you lived and breathed. They will recount your moral characteristics and will praise you for the way you treated others.” On April 5, 1942, he married the love of his life Fay, who his grandchildren call Nanna. They were married for 72 years, which is longer than the majority of people on the planet have been alive. When he first met Fay, she didn’t like him very much. She turned him down numerous times when he asked her for a date. In fact it was only due to his best friend Allen that he ever got the chance to go out with her. Allen got a date with Dynisha, Fay’s sister, but their father wouldn’t let Dynisha go out with Allen without a chaperone. Allen asked Walter if he would go on a double date with them, Fay being his date. He and Fay were almost inseparable from then on. He was asked the secret to their long marriage, and he responded, “Love and Patience — My love for her and her patience with me.” When they both became ill and were separated in different rooms, the staff determined that they had to be put in the same room because they would not survive without each other. In the last weeks of his life, Ashley, his granddaughter, on whom he loved to dote, was over visiting them late in the evening. Just before they went to bed, Nanna wanted to give Pappa a goodnight kiss, which was something that they did every night. Because of how weak Nanna is, Ashley gave her fingers to Nanna, she kissed them, and Ashley placed her own fingers to Pappa’s lips. He kissed them and Ashley returned them to Nanna, and Nanna kissed them again. After literally a lifetime together they had as much love for one another as they did on the day they married. In 1947, after an honorable discharge from the Navy, Fay and Walter moved to Houston, leaving family and friends behind to begin a life-changing journey together. Walter worked in the auto industry for Ford Motor Co. at Raymond Pearson Ford in Houston. In 1961, the family moved to Dallas, where Walter worked as a district supervisor for B.F. Goodrich. After retiring from Goodrich, he opened Calk Service Company. In 1947, as is true of many of his Masonic brothers, he became interested in becoming a Freemason because his wife and her uncle, Paul Lyons, were involved in Masonry. At Crescent Lodge in North Little Rock, Arkansas, where Paul Lyons was Secretary, he was initiated an Entered Apprentice on July 14, 1947, ascended to the degree of Fellow Craft on August 18, 1947, and, in Houston, Texas, was raised the sublime degree of a Master Mason on March 18, 1948. He was very active in Blue Lodge, Edwin J. Kiest #1310 serving as Secretary from 1994-1998 and from 2001-2002. He is an endowed member of that Lodge as are his son-in-law and grandson. His legacy to his family is Masonry. He recently received recognition for spending 65 years in Masonry in addition to previously receiving the Golden Trowel Award. In addition he was highly active in the Scottish Rite, serving as Venerable Master of the Lodge of Perfection in the Valley of Houston, Orient of Texas, Southern Jurisdiction of the United States in 1963. He is a 32′ Master Mason, Knight Commander Court of Honor, and a 50 year member at Scottish Rite in Dallas, where he served as a member of The Royal Order of the Ducks, the stage crew.He is an endowed member of Scottish Rite. His grandson, Ryan, followed in his footsteps as a member of the stage crew upon initiation in Scottish Rite. He was active in Eastern Star with his wife, daughter, grandson, and granddaughter, where they are all endowed members. During his daughter’s years at the University of Texas at Austin, Walter served on the board of the Scottish Rite Dormitory. In every place, Walter left his mark, whether it was in the lodge, the Scottish Rite, or at White Rock UMC where he taught Ryan the value of hard work and service fixing things with Pitcher’s Patchers, a group of men who helped to maintain the building and grounds of White Rock United Methodist Church, where they were members. He and Ryan rebuilt bicycles and took them to the Masonic Home and School for the children and to the Cumberland Presbyterian Children’s Home in Denton, Texas. The director of the Cumberland Presbyterian Children’s Home, Rev. James C. Gilbert, was a life-long friend of Walter and Fay. When his granddaughter had her first home and put up her Christmas tree shortly after Halloween, Pappa said, “Jane Marie, you can’t go putting up your Christmas tree anytime you want.” From that day on, whenever he was trying to get her attention, he would call her “Jane Marie,” and no one, but him, knew why. He was always using his favorite sayings, but Ryan’s favorite sayings are the ones that he has chosen to live his life by because his Pappa did: 1. Your job isn’t done until the job is done. 2. Whatever is honest is honorable. Ryan never knew where Pappa learned these things until Ryan became a Mason. It’s a very true statement to say that Masonry takes good men and makes them better. It did for Walter and for Ryan. One day, Ryan asked his Pappa if he was afraid of dying, and Walter said that he was, but that he knew that he had lived a good long life, and that he knew that God would take care of him. He left this earthly life quietly and peacefully. His suffering is over, and he resides in the arms of God. You never had to wonder what Walter thought, because he just told you. He told Ryan that while Ryan had always been his grandson, that he raised him the way he did because he thought of Ryan as his son as much as his grandson, and Ashley as his daughter as much as his granddaughter. Walter told his daughter and grandchildren of the time that his own father scolded him for reading Flash Gordon comic books because they were just dreams that would never happen. When the United States landed on the moon, his own father called to apologize for not believing that some dreams really do come true. Both men lived very long, history-filled lives. Walter encouraged his children to explore, question, and enjoy science fiction. They would watch a show on PBS that had been around for a while, little bit over 50 years, about a Doctor in a magic box, who traveled through time and space. Every so often the actor that played the Doctor would change and they would have a regeneration to the next Doctor. In his final moments Ryan’s favorite Doctor said something that he chose to include in his grandfather’s eulogy, “We all change. When you think about it, we are all different people, all through our lives. And that ok, that’s good. You gotta keep moving so long as you remember all the people that you use to be. I will not forget one line of this. Not one day. I swear, I will always remember…” That, my Pappa, was you.” Walter said once that the best thing you can say about a man at the end of his years is that he lived a good life, and was a good man. “I can and will say for the record, that my Pappa, Walter Robert Calk, was not only a good man. But he was the best friend and greatest man I have ever known.” — Ryan Visitation will be from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM Monday, June 30, 2014 at Restland Funeral Home. Service will be held Tuesday, July 1, 2014 at 12:30 PM at Restland Wildwood Chapel. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Scottish Rite Hospital for Children.
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