Walker International School named for language education legend
From serving Mexican food to singing and playing “La Cucaracha” on the guitar, retired language teacher Dr. J. Marlan Walker is a Henderson legend.
“I loved when he would play his guitar or speak in one of the many different languages or dialects he knew,” said former student Teddi Goodale Biggs. “He made learning fun. Everyone respected and admired him.”
Well-respected throughout the community, it made sense when former students, family and friends nominated Walker as a potential elementary school namesake.
“When people ask me why they named a school after me, I tell them, ‘I don’t have the slightest idea,’ ” Walker said. “I can think of many people who are more deserving than I, but I’m still very grateful for the honor they’ve awarded me. It touched me deeply.”
Walker International School, 650 Scholar Drive, opened in 2002, offering its students lessons in English and Spanish.
“I think the reason they made it a bilingual school was because of my background,” Walker said. “I’ve visited the children in different grades over the years, and I’m amazed at what they learn. It’s given me a great deal of pride and satisfaction to watch them develop and grow into citizens of our society.”
Born in Southern Utah, Walker served in Mexico during a church mission shortly after graduating from high school.
“After the mission, I stayed there and went to the university in Mexico City to get a degree,” Walker said. “I was already employed with the government down in Mexico near the border, but I came to visit my sister in Henderson around 1952.”
During the visit, Walker met with his sister’s friend and former Clark County School District superintendent Lyal Burkholder.
“He said they needed a language teacher at Basic High School,” Walker said. “I hadn’t planned on teaching or even staying in Henderson, for that matter, but I thought I would give it a try.”
For 36 years, Walker taught Spanish and Latin at Basic and ran the school’s language department. He taught some of Nevada’s most influential people, including Sen. Harry Reid and former Gov. Mike O’Callaghan.
Walker said he was presented with opportunities to advance into administration, but he declined them to continue working with students.
“I had some opportunities to earn more money, but why would I want to leave something I loved so much?” he said. “With the rapport I felt with them and the love a teacher has for their students, teaching gave me a great deal of fulfillment and satisfaction.”
Walker continued visiting Mexico, Peru and Guatemala while teaching. He started exchange programs and planned trips to Mexico so students could immerse themselves in the language.
“I wanted students to have the opportunity to be involved in Spanish, but the classroom wasn’t long enough,” Walker said. “So, we developed extra programs so that kids could learn to really love the language.”
Although Walker took teaching seriously, former students said he had a great sense of humor.
Mark Prime attended a two-week trip to Mexico with Walker in June 1963. While visiting some Aztec pyramids, Walker encouraged Prime to barter with a vendor for an onyx carving.
“I was able to get the vendor to cut the price by half,” Prime said. “Proud of myself, I told (Walker) what I had done and how much I paid. He smiled and said I still paid twice what it was worth.”
Kathleen Kimmel traveled to Mexico during her sophomore year with Walker and met a boy named Alejandro, who wrote to her after she returned home.
“He wrote beautiful letters in wonderful penmanship, but I could not understand a word,” Kimmel said. “So I took my letters to (Walker), who read the letters to himself, chuckling and teasing me to pieces but not telling me what the letters said.”
Walker retired from the school district in 1989 but continued promoting education abroad. At 86, Walker helps run the Las Gaviotas Foundation, a humanitarian project that helps students attend secondary school to prevent poverty in Mexico, Peru and Guatemala.
“I will continue traveling until I get old and cannot move anymore,” Walker said. “This is the love of my life.”
Contact Henderson View reporter Caitlyn Belcher at cbelcher@viewnews.com or 702-383-0403.
