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Walker known by friends as 'passionate,' 'courageous'

By Sarah Morrison

August 15, 2008
 

Each person who offered his or her memories of June Walker after her July 31 funeral at Beth HaTikvah in Summit had a difficult time saying "was" instead of "is."

Many were still in disbelief, refusing to acknowledge that the trailblazing Walker had finally passed after battling cancer for seven years. However, they were only half-wrong: Walker, who passed away on July 29 at the age of 74, will forever remain an "is" to the family, friends, and co-workers who knew how special she was.

Walker, who lived in Rockaway, had a long history of activism at Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America. According to Hadassah, Walker has served as treasurer and chair of the American Affairs/Domestic Policy department and the Chair of the Hadassah College of Technology, which is now Hadassah College Jerusalem. She served on the Board of Directors at the Hadassah Medical Organization. She served as Hadassah's National President from 2003 to 2007 and afterwards was elected unanimously to serve as the Chairperson of the Conference of President of Major American Jewish Organizations, the second woman to ever hold that position.

Walker worked her entire life fighting for Israel, Jewish issues, and stem cell research. She led a major advocacy campaign called SOS (State of Stem Cells). Hadassah representatives from all 50 states went to their state capitals to lobby for funding and further research in stem cells.

"She just relished that campaign and loved every part of it," said Shelley Klein, the national director of advocacy at Hadassah. "June was passionate about the public policy issues that Hadassah works on. She was a champion of reproductive choice, stem cell research, and pro-Israel advocacy. She really prioritized advocacy."

"June was one of those people who, throughout her life, her sense of determination to accomplish what she wanted to do drove her," said current Hadassah president Nancy Falchuk. "She wanted to make the world a better place through Hadassah."

Walker's activism never got in the way of her family life, a point that every person she came in contact with recognized and noted.

"Her access to high level people did not shake her. She was very focused on her grandchildren," said Morlie Levin, national executive director of Hadassah. "Her life legacy is not only what she did in the organized Jewish world, but in the Jewish connection she created in her family and the connection that she had with her grandchildren."

"She always made time for her family, and especially for all the grandchildren, her most precious jewels in life," said Marlene Post, Hadassah past president, at the eulogy she gave at Walker's funeral. "Her obsession and desire to give her grandchildren a Jewish life experience and a secure, solid educational future for them, June was actually creating her legacy. It is in each one of her grandchildren. She was a champion for education, Young Judaea, and youth aliyah. Her grandchildren should always know and remember that they gave their grandma very special gifts -- the ability to relate so beautifully with all young people wherever she went."

Walker left behind six grandchildren, all of which had a close relationship with their grandmother.

"June drifted out of all of our lives, but she was surrounded by friends and family that kept a vigil by her bedside and never left," Post said. "Your immortal soul is kept in all your grandchildren who were there for you."

"What you admired about her was her balance," said Falchuk. "She understood the value of meetings with heads of state, but they never took preference over family. I think that the most important life that she led was her family life. That's one of the best things about Hadassah -- as a women's organization, we're mothers, grandmothers, and daughters. The respect of the organization was equal to the respect that her family had her time and attention as well."

When her friends spoke about Walker, they often mentioned her determination, first and foremost. 

"I knew that this was possibly the end," said close colleague and executive director of the Conference of Presidents Malcolm Hoenline, in a eulogy he delivered at Walker's funeral. "June always fought back. Surely, she would win this round also. She died in the same time as Randy Pausch, the man of 'The Last Lecture.' For June, it wasn't just the last lecture. It was the last convention, the last meeting. She gave it her best shot. At the last Conference of Presidents, it was clear to everyone that it was difficult for June, but she was determined. Her strength was ebbing, but not her commitment. She took me aside to tell me about her new diagnosis and what she was up against. She did not complain or blame. She would not waste the energy to fight her courageous battle."

The strength that Walker exhibited during her weakest moments was June's way of coping and her way of giving back confidence and strength to those around her.

"She was determined in every way possible that she would put up a valiant fight," Post said. "We all have so much to learn from that fight alone and so much to remember what it took to stand up and do all the things that she did."

"So many people were shocked by her death," Falchuk said. "Anyone who really knew her knew how sick she was, but she hid it from everybody so well. Instead of being someone with cancer, she was the national president and the chair of the Conference of Presidents. People didn't see her as a sick person, and that is remarkable... Not everyone could do what she did. It has to be a DNA component! As much as we say that we would feel that way, it's very hard for anyone to actually overcome that kind of pain."

"Her sincerity and integrity were clear, her devotion to Hadassah and to Israel, stem cell research, health care, and so much more were infectious," Hoenline continued. "She led by example. Not only was June a wonderful partner, she was a gifted leader who had the respect and admiration of all."

Hoenline then read statements sent it by President George W. and Mrs. Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, and United Nations Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon, among other famous world leaders.

"She was mother to so many people -- to the most famous people to the most average person," Post said. "She spoke to everyone as if they were longtime friends and family. She made everyone feel that they were part of her life and the life of her family."

"She never felt, as national president or in any position, loftier than anyone else," said longtime friend and Hadassah volunteer Judy Shereck. "She could laugh with the best of them. She never let anyone feel uncomfortable."

Walker carried a friendly and open persona throughout her entire professional career. Not one person felt unloved or shunned from Walker. In fact, everyone she met became immediate family.

"June was the type of person who you liked to see in positions in power because she was so down to earth and had no pretensions about her," Klein said. "For her, everything was personal. When I would bring my son to work, I never hesitate to bring him upstairs to see June. No matter what meeting she was in, she always wanted me to interrupt it so she could say hi to him. What was important to her was the person, whether it was a world leader or an administrator at Hadassah. She related to people by seeing them as people. She was the president of a 300,000-person organization. I had a close relationship with her, but she had it with thousands of people."

"Before the funeral, we [at Hadassah] came together as a Hadassah family. There must have been 150 of us in the lobby area," Falchuk said. "I said, 'Do you want to share anything about June?' Everyone from maintenance and kitchen staff to the people she was closest to on the volunteer and staff levels were all crying and talking about the June that was laughing and smiling. All walks of life came together and said the same thing. You don't see that anywhere else. That's how she lead her professional life."

"When I think of June, I think of the midrash of Miriam's well," said Rabbi Amy Joy Small of Congregation Beth Hatikvah, in a eulogy she gave at Walker's funeral. "When the world was created, God created the miracle of Miriam's well. When a woman with proper blessing sang the proper song from her heart, the well will miraculously appear and bring forth water. The well worked for all the matriarchs. In the wilderness, Miriam summoned the well... After Miriam's death, the well disappeared, and we have not been able to summon it since. Perhaps another righteous woman of Israel whose heart is open and pure, her deeds selfless, will once again sing the song. June Walker was just such a righteous woman. She was always working on behalf of her causes."

"She was always fighting for the underdog," Klein commented. "She was the paradigm of what it was to be a woman leader."

Falchuk attributed Walker's seemingly unlimited strength to a "sheer, God-given will."

"You never heard anything about her illness," Falchuk said. "Her doctor told her not to fly to Israel. She said, 'Watch me'."

And she went a few months ago, with the accompaniment of Small, to the University of Haifa, where she received an honorary doctorate for all her hard work on behalf of Israel and the Jewish people.

"As a young person, June wanted to be a doctor," Shereck said. "She truly thought about it, but she never did it. So when she received her doctorate in June, she was so happy to receive the title of 'doctor.' The University of Haifa made that dream come true."

"June made such a deep and powerful impression on people," Small said. "In our tradition, we wish for people to live to 120. Maybe that's because we need that much time to live to our potential. In June's case, in her 74 years, she achieved much more than what most people could achieve in a lifetime."

That seemed the appropriate way to summarize the accomplishments of June Walker -- the compassionate, strong, willing fighter for Jewish people not just in New Jersey, or even in the United States. Jews all over the world are benefiting from Walker's work -- and they couldn't be more grateful.

"She was very prestigious in the Jewish world," Shereck concluded. "To me, she was my friend."