Dorothy Virginia (Cathey) Walton

Dorothy Virginia "Tooker" Cathey Walton, 99, was born Thursday, March 1, 1923 in Jackson, MS and died Sunday, September 11, 2022 peacefully at home in Los Ranchos, New Mexico. She graduated from AG Parrish High School in Selma, AL and attended Montevallo, a women's Liberal Arts college in AL. She was recruited from Montevallo in 1943 to join the war effort by studying aeronautical engineering at VPI (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg, VA, and then working on the drafting tables at Glenn L. Martin (later Lockheed Martin) in Baltimore where she used her slide rule on the blueprints of a new jet, to calculate balance points. She became the manager of foreign sales at Engineering Resource Corp, where her last sale was five ERCoupe planes to Saudi Arabia.

While visiting her sister who was married to an Army officer stationed in Germany in the 1950's, Tooker met and married Capt. James K. Walton. After retiring from the US Army, they made their home in Albuquerque, NM. Tooker was preceded in death by her husband of 53 years; her parents, Thomas Rupert Cathey and Sara McAuley Cathey of Selma, AL; her two brothers, Lee Riggs Cathey of Selma, AL and Thomas R. "Sonny" Cathey of Cary, NC;  and her brother-in-law, Charles Walton of Mill Valley, CA. She leaves behind three children; Thomas Kenneth Walton (Jacqueline) of San Antonio, TX, Susan Walton (Ed Greenwich) and James K. "Jim" Walton both of Los Ranchos, NM. Also surviving are two sisters; Juanita Cathey Sinclair of Raleigh, NC and Anne Cathey Smith (Wayne) of Cary, NC;  and one sister-in-law, Rebecca Cathey of Cary, NC, as well as three grandchildren; Amanda Todd (James), Madeleine Hamilton (Trent), and James "Zeke" Walton and one great grandchild, Walker Hamilton. Other family and many friends, including Dupuy and Ellen Bateman and her godson Dupuy Bateman IV survive her.

Tooker was a competent seamstress, enjoyed playing Bridge, attending the Tuesday Literary Club, hosting dinner parties, growing an annual organic garden and selling blackberries to La Montanita Coop for some years. She was inducted into the Albuquerque Senior Hall of Fame in 2006. She was instrumental in running the St. John's Thrift Shop on Central Avenue for many years. The shop is still 100% volunteers and offering great buys today. She was a member of the Cathedral of St John.

Tooker will be remembered in the October 13 Requiem Service (streaming through St John's Facebook page) at St John's Episcopal Cathedral, 318 Silver Ave SW, Albuquerque. In lieu of flowers, you might consider a gift to charity. Her favorite charities were those close to her friends' hearts. She always contributed to the League of Women Voters, Planned Parenthood, Sandia Prep School and The Cathedral Church of St John.

A burial of her cremains will be held in the Anna City cemetery in Anna, IL, next to her husband who died in 2007. It will be scheduled in the spring or summer of 2023.