Paul Gordon Walker – [Heath 1936–1943]
Paul Walker was an amazing Halifax man and something of a linguist. Besides medieval English, he loved Latin and could read all manner of books in Latin, just for fun! He also was fluent in German and learnt Urdu to a good level.
He wrote in his memoirs:
One of the first things we were taught was how to use the English language correctly — what to say and what not to say. We were taught Latin and, later on, classical Greek. In sport we played rugby union. Eventually I became prop-forward in the first 15. During this time I won different medals and certificates for activities with the Life Saving Society. I was leader of the house gymnasium team.
From grammar school, he went to Sheffield University where he studied physics and maths for three years. His working life was spent as a physicist with Turner & Newell as a Quality Assurance Manager, Rochdale, after his return from Australia 1949–51.
The Australian lifestyle did not suit him and his new bride, Barbara, to whom he was married for sixty-one years. They had three children John, Michael and Caroline.
I know that in his youth he was very sports minded, enjoying rugby and lifeguard duty. He had a love for woodturning, model ship building and Maths. In his early nineties, I recall him sending off for a series of very complicated Maths books and stopping the order, as he kept finding mistakes in the calculations!
A Yorkshire man of integrity and positivity, when he died at his home in Lancashire on after a short illness, we came back from the cremation to find a single white rose in a vase outside his front door.
Vicki (& John Walker)