Funeral Services of Dr. Solomon William Walker, Reed Street Baptist Church, Tuesday, December 28, 1954, 1:00pm

of

DR. SOLOMON WILLIAM WALKER

REED STREET BAPTIST CHURCH

Tuesday, December 28, 1954

1:00 P.M.

"CROSSING THE BAR"
Sunset and evening star, and one clear call for me! And may there he no mourning of the bar When I put out to sea, But such a tide as moving seems asleep, Too full for sound and foam, When that which drew from out the boundless deep Turns again home.
Twilight and evening bell, and after that the dark! And may there be no sadness of farewell when I embark; For though from out our bourne of time and place, The floods may bear me far, I hope to see my pilot face to face When I have crossed the bar.

BIOGRAPHY
Solomon W. Walker, Chairman of the Board of Directors and founder of Pilgrim Health and Life Insurance Company, while working as a delivery boy in a grocery store, grew tired of paying his insurance premiums into a white company in which his dollars were robbed of their power to employ colored men and women. The Pilgrim Health and Life Insurance Company is the direct culmination of Dr. Walker's vision and his determination as a youth to establish a Negro insurance company.
Dr. Walker, the son of Reverend Henry and Mrs. Martha Walker, was born at Blythe, Georgia, in Burke County. He received his formal scholastic training at Nellieville Academy and Walker Baptist Institute in Augusta. His higher education was received in the great university of life, for he was the very embodiment of the quotation: "All life is a school, a preparation, a purpose ; nor can we pass current in any higher college unless we are willing to undergo the tedium of education in this lower one."
Regardless of the lack of academic degrees, Dr. Walker was essentially a scholar and a student of men. He has long believed that men are always moved by examples of courage, confidence, and inspiration; therefore, he was undaunted when he realized that he had only $2.50, saved from his meager earnings as a delivery boy, to pay down on the charter of the Pilgrim Benevolent Society, which cost $25.00. He proposed that it be purchased on the installment plan. It was. There were many obstacles to overcome, but with his determination and courage, which were the guiding principles, Pilgrim Health & Life Insurance moved upward to its present position among the leading insurance companies owned and operated by Negroes.
Dr. Walker was active in the Reed Street Baptist Church and chairman of the board of deacons ; for many years he was treasurer of the Sunday School, and a member of the Executive Board of the State Baptist Convention.

He was a member of the committee of management of the Butler Street Y.M..C.A., Atlanta; a member of the executive committee of the Atlanta branch of the N.A.A.C.P.; Vice-President of the Boys' Law and Order League of America; a member of the Board of Directors of the Atlanta Urban League; a member of the advisory committee of the Federal University Housing Project; a member of the trustee board of Spelman College; and a member of the committee on recreation and camping of the National Youth Administration. Dr. Walker was active in business circles of the city.
In 1901, Dr. Walker married Miss Julia Dennigan, now deceased. To this union four children were born, Alvetious, (deceased), James Henry, Agnes, and Willie Marion.

GRANDCHILDREN
Mrs. Dorothy Marion Mapp Miss Gwendolyn Louise Walker Mr. Solomon William Walker Miss Eleanor Walker Master Michael Wallace Chandler Master Stevie Joe Chandler Little Miss Carlin Chandler Master Jeffrey Chandler

GREAT GRANDCHILDREN

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Little Miss Lynn Michelle Mapp Little Miss Dianne Lisa Mapp

PROGRAM

Processional

Hymn ----'Choir Prayer.........------------Hymn-"Servant of God Well Done".............................................Choir

Scripture........................................--Dr. L. A. Pinkston Solo....................................................................................Mrs. Ozzie Quarterman

Remarks

(Please limit to 2 minutes) Dr. Benjamin E. Mays Dr. D. H. Stanton Dr. Wm. Holmes Borders Dr. Rufus E. Clement Mr. B. F. Bullock

Solo..........................................................................................Mr. Marcus Williams

Remarks (Please limit to 2 minutes) Representatives of Reed Street Baptist Church Senior Department-Dea. Burney Patrick Junior Department-Bro. Grady Bennett, Jr.
Solo.................................................................................Spelman College Student

Remarks..................A. M. Carter, Pilgrim Health & Life Ins. Co.

Remarks......................................................W. C. Peden, Atlanta District

Selection.........................................................Choir 3, Reed Street Church

Remarks: Community Associates.....................Mr. Warren R. Cochrane Business Representative..........................................H. S. Murphy

Selection-"I'm a Child of the King"---Choir His Favorite Song

Eulogy...........................................................................Rev. C. Nathaniel Ellis

Hymn -----'Choir Recessional

HONORARY PALLBEARERS Board of Directors, The Pilgrim Health & Life Ins. Co.
Deacons of Reed Street Baptist Church

ACTIVE PALLBEARERS

Dea. Burney Patrick Dea. Alton Knight Dea. Thomas Quarterman

Dea. L. J. Wadley Dea. Benjamin Hathaway Dea. John Anderson

FLOWER LADIES

Sister Pinkie Winfrey Sister Alma Greenhouse Sister Julia Patrick

Mother Lillie Sewell Mother Maggie Cox Mother Estell Wadley

Interment, Lincoln Memorial Cemetery

Pollard Funeral Home in Charge

HIS FAVORITE CHAPTER IN THE BIBLE
Exodus 20th Chapter
Verses 1 through 17
And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the earth : Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not coveth thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.