ARCHIE DEAN WALKER JR

Archie Dean Walker Jr. was a grandson (the youngest son of the youngest son) of industrialist TB Walker.  In St. Louis Park, he is most known at the owner of Imported Motors at 4317 Excelsior Blvd. from 1952 to 1960 and West Side Volkswagen from 1960 to 1965. He left that endeavor in 1965 to build a BMW dealership in Wayzata.

We learn much more about him from his obituary in the Idaho Statesman:
 

Statesman staff - Idaho Statesman Edition Date: 04/18/08

Archie Dean Walker, the longtime Idaho resident who founded the Walker Center in Gooding for the treatment of substance abuse, died Thursday in Vancouver, Wash., of chronic autoimmune disease. He was 88. More than 10,000 people are considered alumni of the Walker Center, which first opened in 1976 in an abandoned tuberculosis hospital in Gooding. The center, renamed in the 1980s for its founder, now has offices in Gooding, Twin Falls and Boise. In 2003, a $5.3 million building in Gooding was dedicated after Walker and his wife, Amy, donated $1 million and helped to raise the rest of the money.

It's safe to say that the Walker Center would not exist had it not been for Archie Walker and his public discussion about his own battle with alcoholism.

Walker was born March 13, 1920, in Minneapolis, the youngest of six children. He served as a navigation instructor during World War II and, after the war, opened Archie Walker Imported Motors in Minnesota selling Volkswagens.

He married Amy Camp, in 1944, and they raised four children in Minnesota. By the 1960s, when they sold the business, they decided to head West.

"Our children had flown the nest, and we always wanted to ranch," said Amy Walker, chuckling at the thought. "Yes, there was some cause for pause."

Amy Walker said she thought cattle ranching would be akin to raising children. You feed them. You clean up after them. They spent a year finding the perfect spot, deciding in 1972 on nearly 2,400 acres northwest of Bliss, where they lived for 27 years.

Amy Walker went to cattle school to learn the business, and used part of the land to plant potatoes. Archie Walker tackled the farm equipment, learning how to adapt whatever they had to fit their needs. Amy Walker said her husband was an avid bird watcher and would spend hours ensuring their property became a safe haven for a variety of fowl, including golden eagles, swans and sandhill cranes.

"We would have been married 64 years next month, and I was never bored for a single day," she said. "He was fun. He was entertaining. He taught me a lot.

"He focused on habitat for birds on the ranch as much as trying to support the ranch. I know I told him, 'Honey, why don't you just put dollar bills on the fields? It would be easier.' "

In addition to grand views and an abundance of wildlife, Archie Walker noticed something else about Idaho: Heavy alcohol abuse and little help for its victims. "He said, 'These people need help,' " Amy Walker said.

Walker, an alcoholic, had completed treatment in 1962 at Minnesota's famed Hazelden clinic.

"He was drinking heavily, and it crept up on him for 10, 11 years," Amy Walker said. The treatment "worked wonderfully for him, but when he came to Idaho, it was like going back 30 years."

Amy Walker described how the couple noticed a sort of culture of drinking, recounting stories about how it was common to see people drinking at school events, places people wouldn't drink today.

So, out of Archie Walker's desire to help others, the Walker Center was born. The Walkers stayed active with the center and they donated a portion of their money from selling the ranch to help build a new facility in Gooding.

Archie Walker never hid his battle against alcoholism and strongly urged people to speak out about their experiences.

"Alcohol is a shame-based illness, with a strong stigma," he once said. "We need to put a face on recovery, get away from the shamed-based approach to the disease and treat it as it should be treated - with joyful recovery."

Archie Walker is survived by his wife; three children, Katherine Walker Griffith, Lita Walker West and Stephen Archie Walker; and 14 grandchildren. A son, Archie Dean Walker III, died in 1999.

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This information comes from a variety of sources: newspapers, books, yearbooks, phone directories, interviews, etc. Given the varied sources, we cannot guarantee that all of this information is correct, and welcome any additions and corrections. Please contact us with your contributions and comments.