Spring 2010 - Arkansas Children's Hospital
Spring 2010 - Arkansas Children's Hospital
Spring 2010 - Arkansas Children's Hospital
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DONORS<br />
Pat Walker, chairman of the<br />
Willard and Pat Walker<br />
Charitable Foundation, is a<br />
lifetime member of Children’s<br />
Circle of Care, a giving society<br />
made up of individuals, family<br />
foundations and privately held<br />
companies that support ACH<br />
with annual gifts of $10,000<br />
or more.<br />
Children’s Circle of Care Spotlight:<br />
Pat Walker<br />
■ Kila Owens<br />
Helping children lead happy, successful lives has always been a passion for Pat<br />
Walker.<br />
As the chairman of the Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation, which she and<br />
her late husband founded, she has built a legacy of generosity, helping numerous nonprofit<br />
organizations, including <strong>Arkansas</strong> Children’s <strong>Hospital</strong>, better serve the people in<br />
this state.<br />
Pat, who was born Amy Seamens, was raised in Oklahoma before she and her mother<br />
moved to Kansas in 1942. Pat, who was 22 at the time, went looking for work at S.H.<br />
Kress, the local five-and-dime store. Willard Walker, an employee at the store, was smitten<br />
and told his friends, “I’m going to marry that girl.”<br />
Willard was right. Later that year, Pat married Willard and the two began their life<br />
together. Willard began to lovingly call Amy “Pat,” and over the years, the nickname has<br />
stuck.<br />
During the next twelve years, Pat and Willard moved several times before finally settling<br />
in <strong>Spring</strong>dale with their two children, Patricia and Johnny Mike.<br />
In 1954, Willard became the store manager of one of Sam Walton’s first five-and-dime<br />
stores, which was located on the square in Fayetteville. In the early 1960s, Walton had<br />
begun to launch his Walmart stores and Willard became the manager of the third<br />
Walmart store, which was in <strong>Spring</strong>dale.<br />
“Those early days were hard because we really didn’t have a lot of money,” Pat says.<br />
“But Willard was devoted to his job and he loved his work. Sometimes he would even<br />
sleep in the back room of the store.”<br />
Willard remained a store manager at the <strong>Spring</strong>dale Walmart until 1972, when he<br />
took a sabbatical and never returned. Pat and Willard enjoyed their retirement. They<br />
spent the next few years raising cattle, traveling throughout the world and playing with<br />
grandchildren.<br />
In 1986, the Walkers started their charitable foundation.<br />
“We always had an interest in supporting health and education, so we decided to start<br />
the foundation, which would enable us to do even more,” Pat says. “Over the years, we<br />
found that giving back to our community and our state was very rewarding and we<br />
wanted to do it on a larger scale.”<br />
The Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation made its first<br />
gift to <strong>Arkansas</strong> Children’s <strong>Hospital</strong> in 2001 to support a capital<br />
campaign. The next year, the foundation gave $1 million to ACH<br />
toward the purchase of new ventilators for the Neonatal Intensive<br />
Care Unit (NICU).<br />
“Willard and I both always loved children and we always wanted<br />
to do anything we could to help families,” Pat says. “We decided to<br />
support the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit because we want all<br />
babies to get off to a good start.”<br />
The $1 million gift the Walker Foundation gave to the hospital<br />
made them lifetime members of Children’s Circle of Care, a giving<br />
society made up of individuals, couples, family foundations and privately<br />
held companies who support ACH with annual gifts of<br />
$10,000 or more.<br />
Willard passed away in 2003 and Pat has continued her work<br />
with the foundation, donating millions of dollars to several nonprofit<br />
organizations each year.<br />
“Pat is such an amazing woman,” says Debbie Walker, executive<br />
director of the Walker Fundation. “She is kind, caring and giving,<br />
and people all over the state look up to her.”<br />
In May, Pat visited ACH for an event celebrating the foundation’s<br />
support of the hospital. As part of her tour of the NICU, she<br />
was able to see for the first time the area that has been named in<br />
her honor.<br />
“Thousands of children are treated at <strong>Arkansas</strong> Children’s<br />
<strong>Hospital</strong> each year,” she says. “Through the foundation, we want to<br />
make a difference for these children and their families, giving children<br />
the best healthcare available and enabling them to enjoy<br />
healthy, happy lives.”<br />
For more information on Children’s Circle of Care, please contact<br />
Leah Greenfield at 501-364-1807 or greenfieldlw@archildrens.org.<br />
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