Barbara Walker reflects on 40 years of service at Southwestern

Forty years ago, computers were not on every office desk, let alone in every student’s backpack; mobile phones, only ten years old in 1982, were used solely to call people and were mostly an unaffordable novelty for seminarians; and the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary campus ended for the most part at the Naylor Student Center to the south.

The newly built A. Webb Roberts Library was opened for the first time in 1982, with the collection of half a million books from the Fleming Library taken to the massive 100,000 square foot, three-story building to house the world’s largest theological library. 

Robert A. Baker, renowned Southern Baptist historian and professor of church history at Southwestern, was putting the finishing touches on his book Tell the Generations Following, which would chronicle Southwestern Seminary’s first 75 years.  

And a young seminarian’s wife named Barbara Walker applied for employment and was hired to begin what has now become a 40-year career, serving three of the last four presidents of Southwestern Seminary. 

This month, Walker will officially retire after four decades of service on Seminary Hill. Walker shows no signs of being ready for retirement. Her voice and face radiate animations of love and nostalgia as she talks about her beloved seminary.

In 1982, Walker and her husband, Kevin, came to Southwestern Seminary from New Mexico, as she says, “a team.” Walker applied for a campus job but had no idea that she would still be on staff 40 years later. As a fast typist – 120 to 150 words a minute – she initially thought she would help her husband in typing his papers, and then a few other students in typing their papers for some extra money. Walker however was thrilled when she was accepted to work as an administrative assistant in the School of Theology. 

Kevin now has been on staff at Southcliff Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, for 17 years. He is currently serving as the executive pastor, is a certified church business administrator, and a former president of Texas Baptist Men. 

A graduate of Eastern New Mexico University, Walker said that even though she did not earn a degree at Southwestern, she learned a lot from typing papers of students and working for three faculty members. “I worked for Al Fasol in preaching, Russ Bush in ethics, and then I worked for Earl Martin in missions. So, I had quite the broad spectrum of what I learned and typed and did for them.” Her assistance earned Walker acknowledgments in several of the published books during that time. 

Typing then was different than with computers and keyboards today. “We used the Selectric three typewriter that had the element ball that you could take in and out. And I learned to type in Greek and Hebrew, along with my English to support my faculty members.”

Not only was the work different then, but the seminary was different as well, having more than twice the population it has today with nearly half the school space. “When we came in 1982, there were 5,000 students. Hallways were full. They used a bell system, so when the bell rang, as a secretary, you knew that you better not be in the hallway until the next bell rang when they should all be in class. And parking was at a premium.”

In 1986, Kevin graduated with a Master of Divinity degree but had become the director of landscaping at Southwestern which later morphed into the director of support services. As a result, the Walkers stayed at Southwestern. The next year, after five years as a secretary in the School of Theology, Walker transitioned to the business office to work as a junior accountant for about a year. Walker enjoyed all her years serving the seminary and loves Southwestern, but that year was more about doing numbers and less with the students and faculty, which she missed. 

In 1988, she received a call from the office of Russell Dilday, the seminary’s sixth president, to work in the back of the office as a secretary, doing filing, running errands, coordinating the invitations to the three graduate receptions each year and “anything Mrs. Dilday needed.” Within a couple of years, she was promoted to executive assistant to Dilday.

“When I came into the president’s office, there was a little more freedom. I was out running errands, getting to meet and getting to know more of the vice presidents. So, it was just a different level, especially when I moved into the executive assistant position with Dr. Dilday. Just seeing how he worked as a high-level administrator, who was very good, administrative-wise, making decisions, standing by his decisions.”

Following Dilday’s departure, the late William B. Tolar, who was then serving as academic vice president and provost, was named as the interim president of the seminary. 

As Tolar led in the interim role, Walker worked with him as the administrative assistant. “So we transitioned, and you know, the Lord was very good and just blessed us during that time as far as healing. And when he brought Dr. Hemphill on, Dr. Hemphill had been a pastor who was very much a healer, loved the people, wanted to encourage us. He was great and I enjoyed working with him.”

The feelings, appreciation and admiration between Walker and Hemphill were mutual. Reflecting on his years serving with Walker, Hemphill said, “I used to somewhat humorously say that Barbara was the best executive assistant I had ever worked for. There was actually a lot of truth in that statement. We knew little about Southwestern or the academic world when we arrived in Fort Worth. Barbara was invaluable in helping us through the challenging transition. She was patient, kind, and loyal. She was as much called to Southwestern as I was. She and Kevin are not just colleagues, they are friends,” Hemphill said of the Walkers. 

She stayed in her position during Hemphill’s nine years as the seminary’s seventh president, remembering he was involved with the students, even meeting with them at the Recreation/Aerobics Center (RAC) and working out with them. After serving with Hemphill from 1994 to 2003, Walker transitioned to working in the library during Paige Patterson’s tenure as president, loving her time there as well.

“During those years, I worked in the library, and I loved that. I enjoyed that,” Walker said, adding that she thought she would retire having 16 years in the president’s office and 16 years in the library, in addition to the theology and business departments. 

However, when the ninth Southwestern president, Adam W. Greenway, came, “he brought me back [to the president’s office]. I’m now thrilled to say that I spent the majority of my time in the president’s office.”

“Barbara Walker is one of the real gems in Southern Baptists’ ‘Crown Jewel’ seminary,” Greenway said. “She is the epitome of the many servants of this institution whose labors are often unnoticed by most but without whom our seminary would function far less well. It was my delight to invite her to return to the Office of the President for her final years of service on Seminary Hill.” 

Soon after Greenway’s arrival, however, COVID-19 came and with it came some more historic days and adaptation. “With COVID, we shut buildings down and students weren’t in the hallways and faculty were teaching from their homes. That was just really different. It didn’t affect just the seminary, it affected our churches, affected churches’ ministries—you couldn’t go to the hospital, you couldn’t visit in nursing homes. People didn’t want to be around you. So, to me that was a totally different dynamic of shutting everything down.”

Walker marvels at the change in the times, the change in the seminary, in the Southern Baptist Convention, and in technology over the years. She remembers when she first came that dress was important for students, who carried their books in briefcases instead of backpacks. Tests were taken in those “famous blue books they were always buying at the bookstore.” She remembers when students jockeyed for positions on the semester schedule to sit in classes taught by seminary legends like J.W. “Jack” MacGorman, Roy J. Fish, Bert Dominy, Jack D. Terry Jr., and William J. Reynolds. In those days, to attend class “remotely” did not mean the students learned at home, but rather the students attended the Houston satellite campus.

Working in the office now, Walker says, is not better or worse than in the past. “It’s just different. It’s just the way the world is now. Our phones don’t ring very much here in this office. Although I do like it when faculty or other people stop in the office to say hello,” adding that it’s quieter because so many just send text messages or emails. 

Walker summarizes the past and future succinctly, “Some years were hard. Some years were easy. But I see under Dr. Greenway’s leadership, his care and enthusiasm; his desire for the seminary to continue to grow and be what it needs to be: to train men and women for the ministry that God has called them into.” 

Walker believes that since Greenway is a Southwestern alumnus, he is someone who not only cares about the seminary, the staff, and the students who attend the institution, but also, “he really cares about the history and the facilities of the seminary,” Walker said, stressing her words with genuine passion. “He really wants in all areas for this to be the ‘crown jewel’ as Southwestern Seminary. He’s working very hard at that.”

Walker said Greenway’s arrival was not only a blessing for the seminary, but also for her personally as she was able to make a full circle and come back to work in the president’s office.

“It was just really an unexpected blessing, coming back in with Dr. Greenway, who is an incredible administrator. He’s a gifted president. My goal was never to work in the president’s office. That was never my goal. But I’m incredibly blessed.”

Greenway shares the same sentiments regarding not only his opportunity to work with Walker, but also the other seminary administrators, faculty, and staff who have also worked with Walker over her four decades of service on Seminary Hill.

“I’m deeply grateful for all that she has meant to me and to the other presidents she has served so well, in addition to other offices she served,” Greenway said. “I pray for God’s richest blessings to her and her family has she enjoys her well-earned retirement.”

Walker is very positive about the future of the seminary and her own future, post-Southwestern Seminary which has been her life. But, as anyone would be who has vested 40 years of her own life, in addition to her husband working at the institution for 22 years, Walker gets understandably just a little misty-eyed, thinking about her not being on campus.

On the other hand, the Walkers have a son and a daughter with two grandchildren each, so obviously retirement will allow a little more for family time. “Now I’m going to get to do those kinds of fun things that the Lord has out there for me. I do want to spend more time with my grandchildren since I do have young grandchildren.” 

She also looks forward to being even more active in her church, Southcliff Baptist Church. Over the years, she’s done a wide variety of ministries, from serving as a facilitator in a women’s Bible study, to working in several areas of the preschool and even playing handbells in the church’s music department.

She has not made any firm plans but finds a lot of possibilities very interesting, mostly centered around her church, volunteering in the kitchen with their English as a second language program,  providing for students at Texas Wesleyan University, doing other activities in the church or volunteering with elementary schools, working with reading with students. She also is thinking about doing ministry with her husband, including going to visit hospitals and nursing homes as COVID-19 gets further down the road. 

What does Kevin think about her retiring? “He already thinks I am going to ruin his mowing day,” she laughs. He agrees that this is the right time for her to take time for herself and taking time for the kids and grandkids. 

“Looking back, I see that our call here was just as fulfilling for her as it was for me,” Kevin said. “She was able to use her degree in business administration here. She already knew shorthand, and she used that for the professors.”

Barbara Walker’s eyes sparkle as she talks about the possibilities of the future. “I’m just kind of looking for some service. I don’t want to be in charge of a program. I just want to be the helper, the behind-the-scenes, just make sure it works and does well. And I want to do whatever I do with a smile on my face and be able to tell them about Jesus.”

And maybe, she says with a little whimsical gleam, just maybe coming and volunteering at her home under the dome. “I have asked the Lord,” Walker says, “if I could volunteer here on campus, in the B.H. Carroll House… I’m really kind of excited about the future and what the Lord has in store for me because He hasn’t wasted,” she says with a slight pause, then flashing her smile again, “He hasn’t wasted the training that I’ve had these 40 years.”