Dr. Wilma J. “Willi” Walker’s Bequest Helps Student Dreams Take Flight

Retired Professor Emeritus of Geography and Aviation Dr. Wilma “Willi” Walker has been called EKU’s “renaissance woman.” Her passion for the aviation program that she helped create and the opportunity to help students going into this cost-prohibitive major led Dr. Walker to make a gift establishing The Dr. Wilma J. Walker and Robert L. Thompson Endowed Aviation Scholarship Fund in her name and that of her late husband, a retired EKU administrator. She has made both a five-year pledge to fulfil the major gift and a bequest in her will to ensure the scholarship’s endowment.

Dr. Walker was a student at the University of Kentucky of Dr. Joseph R. Schwendeman, Sr., whose son, Dr. Joseph Raymond Schwendeman, Jr., was chair of EKU’s geography department. He needed a new faculty member just a few days before the semester began, and Dr. Schwendeman, Sr., recommended her to his son. Dr. Walker joined the geography department, which she chaired from 1986 to 2000. The younger Dr. Schwendeman was a naval aviator and his passion for aviation, as well as a decision-making administrative position, led to his initiating an aviation program at EKU — now the only degreed university flight program in Kentucky.

In 1981, Dr. Walker pursued her longtime dream of becoming a pilot, and Dr. Schwendeman was her instructor. This reignited her childhood enthusiasm for aviation and resulted in Dr. Schwendeman, Jr., appointing Dr. Walker to develop EKU’s aviation program, which she led from 1983 to 2000.

When asked what she hopes to accomplish with her gift, Dr. Walker says she gets to “live vicariously through current students, making their dreams to fly come true!”

To encourage EKU friends and alumni to consider leaving their legacies at EKU, Dr. Walker says, “A bequest is an easy process. I value an education and its transformative power. Make a donation to enhance the opportunity for students who might not otherwise be able to attend Eastern Kentucky University to pursue their dreams of a college education.”