He was the proudest Papa alive. He cherished every moment with his family. We will miss him so very much.

~ Stephanie Walker, Daughter in law.

One time Rodney, Anita, Brenda and myself went to the wat not inn We went in the 57. Then after all you could eat fish, Rodney drove us into saugatuck and we had ice cream!! Lol. I was stuffed?? Sure missing him!

~ Ron Seabury

In June the wild strawberries ripen in fields and pastures all across the UP and very few people even notice. The strawberries you buy in the store do not have near the color or the flavor of a wild strawberry. Absolutely delicious!!

Near our shack, there was a field of long grass by the time the end of June was close. Wild strawberries were fairly prolific but grow low under the tall grass and you have to be careful where you walked when berry hunting.

Of course, our mother told us the same thing she did every time we went berry picking, "Don't eat them all. Save some so I can make some jam." We just looked at each other and laughed. You have no idea of how good those berries were and we were going to eat as many as we could possibly find..{Dale was very young when we were moved to Gulliver, so he missed out on a lot of things.} Mom, forever hopeful, would bring us out a cup each and would tell us to put the berries in them for jam. Did that work? Nah! We just ate them. .lol

I always called Rodney the "brat" because he never wanted to share anything really good and that included anything he really liked.. When we found a patch of berries, we would lay down in the grass next to them and start eating them as fast as we could because Rodney would come over by you and start eating the treasure you had found! He would just laugh if you told him to go find his own berries. "Brat"

I can't even begin to tell you how much I'm going to miss that laugh.

In later years, he would stop by the house for a loaf of homemade bread and I would give him a jar of homemade strawberry jam to go with it. In the picture of him eating ice cream, the ice cream is floating on top of strawberries. I think he loved them all his life because I still do.

Sometimes, when I think about those summer times of laying out in the sweet smelling grass with the cool earth beneath us and the sun shining on our backs so warm, along with the taste of those berries so sweet, the brat helping himself to your berries, I wish we could still be in the pasture looking for berries.

His sister--Jeanette

My mom Genny , met Rodney when she was a teenager, and they would attend each other's churches. Later Rodney would become very good friends with my dad Doug. I can remember Rodney and Anita coming to visit my parents when we lived in northern Michigan, and where we live now in Kentucky. And we have visited them a lot in the last several years. If we were in Michigan, we would always stop to see them and spend as much time as we could at their beautiful home in South haven. He was always ready to take my husband or our kids, as they got older, out on the boat fishing. It seemed like it was his privilege!

A few years ago, they invited us to stay at their home. That week holds some beautiful and special memories! Including Rodney continuously saying "you got to be kidding me "anytime we started cooking food. Him and Anita were endlessly amazed at how much food, we would cook. We came home from that trip with my then 4 year old daughter constantly saying "you got to be kidding me! "

When my dad passed away in 2017, Rodney shared some beautiful stories at his funeral here in Kentucky. They came to us and stayed with us for a few days and I'll never forget, the strength that they seemed to carry with them to help us through such a hard time.

We will miss this dear friend of ours so much! I can't hardly make a cup of coffee right now without thinking of this past summer when we were in Michigan visiting. And Rodney came to find us at the house we had rented. we offered a cup of coffee and he accepted of course. The next day when we saw him, he wanted to know what I had done to the coffee because he hadn't slept all night after drinking it. I asked him if maybe it had something to do with his age.

we can all be so thankful for that beautiful hope of heaven GOD BLESS and continuous prayers

"If you have the ability, and the opportunity, it is YOUR responsibility!" I feel like Rodney exemplified this. He had the ability and often made the opportunity.

~ Joscie Kilburn

When Rodney and Anita would stop by Georgia on their way to Florida in the fall he and I would spend afternoons deer hunting in the back pasture. We would sit in the blind, a Jeep Grande Laredo, and spend hours talking about odds and ends and often reliving our shared life events, as we scanned the bordering woods waiting for deer to show. If memory serves me correctly we would harvest a couple of deer a visit.

Everything I look at reminds me of him, everything...

~ Marv Walker

I was very blessed with 22 years of wonderful memories with my papa, but even if I got 100 years of memories with him it still wouldn’t be enough! I’ve enjoyed reading everybody’s favorite moments with my papa and have spent the past few weeks thinking of all the countless memories I have with him. One of them has been stuck in my head on repeat. I was about 12 years old it was a summer day and we hopped on the bike trail right by his house. We rode our bikes all the way to lake michigan, hung out at the beach for a while, went and got lunch and rode to my dad’s job to have lunch with him on his break, and then rode our bicycles all the way back home! We were always doing something fun like this, never a dull moment with my papa. He will forever be my guardian angel. Love you to the moon and back papa

-kaitlin --

One of the great privileges in life as a teenager is to be mostly unsupervised. Our Mom tried but it's kind of hard when you have 5 kids to keep an eye on most of the time. I think she was relieved that the school bus picked us up every day and took us away. lol. At least it did for 9 months of the year.

Living in the UP we NEVER got a snow day. The snow could be up to the electric wires and we had to dig a tunnel to get to the road, for that bus was sure to come, regardless of the weather, blizzard or not. I remember that the bus only got stuck one time in the years we lived up there, our rescue was the other school bus! We went to school! lol.

I wonder when an inch of snow falls here in Holland and a snow day is called?

This is Michigan. Isn't winter expected in this state? I always thought it followed the fall season. Maybe my memory is faulty again?

As kids, we always had fun in the snow and sometimes on the ice, too. Snowball fights, fort building, chasing each other around a circle in duck, duck, goose,{Rodney always hogged the safety circle in the middle.} and building snowmen.

Our grandma Walker would knit us mittens.I can't remember any of them being the same size or color. We didn't care. At least we had some mittens. We learned to ice skate in -10% weather on used hockey skates someone had given us. They flooded the school yard for an ice rink when it was cold enough to make ice and added a barrel fire to help us warm up. We would walk home in the late evening on a snowy road through the cedars and swamp, silence all around us as we watched the Northern Lights in all their beautiful glory. We had cold feet and hands, red cheeks and runny red noses from having an evening of fun outside and splendor in the sky. What a beautiful young life we had! {It was too bad that Dale was too little to be along with us}

Rodney loved the winters when we were young. He had a beautiful laugh when we played outside in the snow, especially when we threw ourselves down in the snow to make snow angels waving our arms around, creating a mini snowstorm with our efforts and getting all covered in the snow again. The trick was to make an angel without leaving foot tracks up to the angel, getting up and away without leaving a track was the hard part. Now he can see the real thing, angels, and no worry about leaving tracks. He left his tracks behind for us to follow.

His sister- Jeanette

Oh how I long for one more hug, one more word of encouragement, one more day of talking while picking blueberries!! I keep wanting to just hear that beautiful voice one more time!! I’ve cried so many tears for you Rodney!! I know where you are and that brings me joy! I’m truly going to miss you my dear dear friend!!! ??????

-Ron Seabury-

Thank you for sharing this obituary of Rodney’s life. We had the pleasure of meeting him and Anita Thompson Walker at FHCG as well as Anita’s family (mother and brother) when they resided in the Morrison Building next to our mobile. Cliff and Rodney had just been talking about their ‘57 Chevy and the one we owned days before his untimely passing. May God’s peace and comfort be with you Anita and family.

~ Cliff & Bev Dixon

We never had a garden of our own but our neighbors and grandma Lewke had them!

Rodney would love to tell me about his garden raiding days {or nights as the case may have been}. He loved ripe watermelon and our neighbor Hasel raised them every summer. She made the mistake of having her garden on the side that faced our shack. Rodney and any brother he could get to go with him, would sneak through the field and snatch one of her ripe watermelons. She never complained to mom about it but I really think she knew who was the culprit.

The neighbor across the road had an apple tree in his cow pasture. It wasn't too excessively large for us to climb, so we did. The hazard came in the nature of cow flops making the barefoot progress just a little ---"oh no! Guess what I just stepped in?" I'm not sure what kind of apples they were but they sure tasted terrific! A nice round sweet yellow apple with a slight banana taste. Rodney loved apples and I think the rest of us still do, too. I don't remember any of us falling out of that tree.

We went to visit my grandma Lewke during the summer. They grew a huge garden. As soon as we arrived at the farm, we would head for the garden immediately. Fresh early peas, little carrots we would clean off on our clothes, leaf lettuce, and tiny tomatoes. The first words from grandma would be "You kids get out of my garden!!" Later in the season, the sweet corn would be picked and boiled in a huge pot grandma had on the stove. With a little salt and butter, we ate like little pigs and with our cheeks smeared from the butter and a full belly, we thought there was no better place on earth to be.

Grandpa Lewke had an apple orchard on the other side of the Chocoley River. He would hitch up his work horses to a wagon and away we'd go to pick apples. He wouldn't let us climb any of his trees. He had an apple picker on a long handle so we had no need to climb to pick the apples. All we had to do was put them in the basket and eat one or two. Sometimes, he would let us ride back to the house on the horses after we fed them an apple. What fun we had on the farm!!

His sister--Jeanette

This old world keeps on turning. It never gives us time to shore up those emotions and prepare for the next hit. My family and i thought so much of Rodney. My boys spent quality time with Rodney, every time they saw him. Thank you Rodney.

Have faith in a higher power. There is so much more. Have faith that Rodney had enough for all of us. A true believer who walked the walk. A great warrior has gone home. He left us with a legacy of love, kindness, compassion, acceptance, and forgiveness. He left us footprints to follow, an example of who we should be. This is for my Sis and Todd, Coree, and Stacy. We loved him.

~ Anita's Sister

He was a beautiful man and soul. We are blessed you guys shared him with our family. Thank you both for always treating me with welcoming arms and respect you both are truly amazing people and both have the most respect from myself and Kyle. We are both praying for you.

-Allyssa-

I was born with a "cowboy" noun in my DNA that rather quickly turned into a verb. Horses have been a major part of my life for nearly 80 years. I have always gravitated toward them like a bat to a bug. People from around the world have sought me out for my horse knowledge. No brag, just fact.

I was waiting for a restaurant guest to get out of a booth I needed to work on and as I often did during those times I called Rodney because I could.

During the course of our conversation I remarked that I had found the horse that I had looked for my entire life. "Now all I have to do is find someone to lend me the money," I joked.

"How much?" he asked casually and when I told him he asked, "Is that going to be enough, do you need more than that?" "Ahh, yeah, that's the total," I replied.

"I'm going to WalMart now to wire the money, it should be there in a half hour," he said matter of factually.

I'll never look at her without thinking of him.

~ Marv Walker, Brother

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Rodney is a rare exception to what is called a man! He was caring to all, loved his families ( blood and church and friends) all so very deeply! He truly was very special to me!! I’m going to miss him terribly! I had just talked to him about a week or so ago and he said he was going to be here around the 1st of April. I said looking forward to seeing him and getting a big hug! GOD HAS YOU NOW!!!! ????

-Ron Seabury-

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Oh Rodney, you have known me since I was a little girl. You were always a happy, fun, family man to be around. The love you showed for Anita Thompson Walker truly showed everyday. I am grateful I saw you one last time about a month or so ago. Per usual, you put a smile on my face and made me laugh like always. ?? Love you, Rodney! RIP.

-Drose Lindemulder-

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Typical Rodney! Always thinking of others and there for them. He called so, so many times to check on Les. "When we all get to heaven. What a day of rejoicing that will be!"

-Becky Burford-

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Summer in the UP was equal to the bug season. It's when the mosquitos talking to each other say "Shall we bite them here or take them home for later?" The deer flies butt in with "No, lets bite them when they are swimming in Gulliver Lake. More skin to bite on and leave nice big red welts." This statement is a true saying!! Ask any deer fly! lol

My mother used to drag us out to pick wild raspberries when the season was right to pick them. She led us into the cedar swamps on a trail the men used when cutting christmas trees. Believe me when I say that our mom had a trail of kids behind her like ducks in a row and behind us was a fog of biting bugs. She would tell us NOT to eat all the berries because she wanted to make jam for our home made bread. Of course, we didn't listen to a word about some time in the future, we were hungry by the time we got to the berry bushes and those berries were so sweet and delicious, we devoured most of what we picked. We all got bramble scratches from the berry bushes and covered in red spots from the bugs, tired and sweaty from the walk into the cedars and cranky from the itches of the bug bites, Rodney ended the swamp berry picking when he stepped on a ground nest of small wasps and started hollering and jumping around while trying to get away from them. {I don't think he ever learned to dance like that again.}

After we got home, my mom put cooled cooked oatmeal all over him.He kinda looked like one of those yeti everyone keeps looking for, being all covered by brown gooey cooked oatmeal.. I think this incident was when he became allergic to wasp and bee stings for the rest of his life. It's probably why he always preferred peanut butter on his home made bread. He didn't have to pick the peanuts or make the peanut butter.

I'll write about the strawberry and blueberry picking another time.

His sister- Jeanette

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Rodney was a good man and a great friend and neighbor?.Our hearts are broken??? He will be truly missed.

-Connie Newberry-

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I miss you. You taught me so much when you were here it is hard to realize that you are gone. amen amen.

-Kendal-

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I remember Rodney doing my dad's funeral he will be missed.

~ Darcy Heavin

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In our wilder days when salmon season first started in Michigan in the late 60's, it was very tightly regulated and people were 20 deep on the river bank flinging huge weighted treble hooks in and out of the water as fast as they could in hopes of snagging one without being snagged in the flying volley. Rodney and I resorted back to our Cedar Savage roots and slipped into feeder creeks and hand-grabbed our illegal legal possession limit of 5 each in about 15 minutes.

We'd show up at the fishing hole basking in hero glory with our stash of fish and lie where we had caught them then watch the rush to get to the "honey hole."

We had a refrigerator filled and a built-up reputation in no time.

Folks we knew would see us coming and throw their hands up, "Don't need any more fish!!! We're good!!!"

~Marv Walker

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We lived up on 32nd street in Holland, Michigan in the middle 60's pretty much car less with a bicycle and the kindness of others being our main transportation from one end of Holland to the other.

Every Friday afternoon the ice cream place way down on Holland, Michigan's Lincoln Avenue closed down for the weekend and threw out their "sell-by" date product in the trash. Rodney and I would hop on the bike and head on down there with me pedaling and him sitting on the handlebars. Back we would come with as many cartons of still somewhat frozen catch of the day ice cream as he could balance.

Mom had a commercial mixer that was her pride and joy. It had a huge bowl and whatever got anywhere near that thing got beat to a pulp as the mixer leaped around doing its thing. Rodney and I would empty all the ice cream without regard to flavor into the bowl and turn it on and in about 15 seconds we'd have about 5 gallons of - you name the flavor - soft-serve ice cream. We'd fill the largest bowls we could find and glutton out on tremendous amounts of ice cream until we were in a satisfied stupor.

A half century later we both love ice cream.

A few years back he and I were sitting in the local DQ during one of his visits and he was licking a huge ice cream cone. I asked him what that was doing to his diabetes, he shrugged and replied, "Don't know, don't care..." He sent me a pic of him eating a bowl of ice cream a year or so later. He loved his ice cream.

~ Marv Walker

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We lived in Escanaba Michigan within walking distance of Bay De Noc, Ore Docks, and Yacht Harbor practically backyard fishing. I needed a fishing partner and Rodney was a willing applicant. I taught him how to fish when he was about 9 and he immediately began teaching his little friends what he learned.

There were about 5 of them in the class as I critiqued him dispensing his knowledge with a casting demonstration using a spinning rod tricked out with a large Red & White DareDevil on the end of the line. DareDevils are fishing lures made of stiff metal and shaped somewhat like a spoon with a treble hook dangling off the bottom.

Rodney whipped the rod around and the DareDevil whistled through the air bound for Wisconsin followed by a sharp "SPLAT" and Dale Boudreau (actual victim) screaming and jumping around with air grasping hands held out and a big DareDevil flopping down his face. He was hollering so loud his parents got mixed up in the catch and it got really exciting about then.

I managed to get a fleeting glimpse of the hook point during all the dancing and commotion and saw the DareDevil was snagged in his eyebrow and blocking his vision. I offered to get it unhooked by pushing the hook completely through to expose the barb so I could snip it off and back it out. That quickly got outvoted with his parents voting for the hospital where they did what I was going to do for free.

"Wasn't that about the time I hit that kid in the eye with the fishing lure?" he asked pensively many years when we were remembering old days.

I made him feel better, "It wasn't his eye, it was his eyebrow!" I reminded. "It was funny watching him jumping around with that DareDevil flapping in and out of his vision path!"

~ Marv Walker

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Marv,

We've loved reading your stories.

We've known Rodney and Anita for 3.5 years through the Florida Holiness Campground. We're from Grayling, MI. Since I took over organizing the parking detail during the churches camp meeting, Rodney volunteered to help.

My most recent funny memory happened about mid February. My husband and I were passing Doughnuts out to different camp residents when all of a sudden my phone rings. It was Rodney asking me if they were going to get Doughnuts too. Needless to say, he and Anita were our next stop. Another time that we passed out Doughnuts, I gave Rodney 2 Doughnuts. One for him and one for Anita. A couple days later when I talked to Anita, imagine my surprise to find out she never got the doughnut. I snapped a picture of Anita and I and told Rodney he got caught.

You're in our prayers ??. Rodney was a very special man.

~ Dave & Denise Jacklyn

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