Leonard Sydney Walker was born in 1914 on a farm a few kilometres north of East London where he lived with his family till the age of four when they moved to Omaha, Nebraska in the US. He spent his youth in America.
Years later, his father suggested he visit South Africa to see his land of birth after a motorbike trip he and his friends had planned around America fell through. This decision changed his whole life. He took a train to New Orleans where he boarded a cargo ship to Cape Town. From the Mother City, Len took a train to Pretoria where he stayed with his uncle and got a job as a mechanic. After two years, he took up a position with the Government Garage where he stayed from 1937 till retirement in 1974. Len never returned to America.
He married Joyce Heathcote in October 1939 and they had three children. One daughter lives in Australia, the other in Fish Hoek and his son David is in George. Len and Joyce travelled extensively after retiring, visiting family and on one trip from Umtata (where they were living at the time) to Cape Town, they overnighted in Knysna. The following morning they drove through George. Joyce looked around and said, "Why don't we buy a house and settle here?" They found an estate agent and by midmorning had bought a cottage in Davidson Road for R55 000.
They moved to the RLR centre in 1990. Joyce passed away in 2005 at the age of 90. The couple were married for 69 years and have eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
On Len Walker's 99th birthday, from left: Amy Harris (granddaughter), David Walker (son), Len, Sally Couper (daughter), Trudy Walker (daughter-in-law) and Keagan Harris (great-grandson). Photo: Juanita van Wyk
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