Merle Royse "Ole" Walker papers

Merle Royse Walker was born in 1892, the son of Guy M. and Minnie Royse Walker, both 1890 DePauw University graduates. Representing the sixth generation of his family to attend DePauw, Walker died on Sept. 16, 1958, at his home in Laurel, Mississippi. Following cremation there, his ashes were interred at Forest Hill Cemetery, Greencastle. "Ole" Walker was a third generation member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity at DePauw and a basketball and football star, serving as captain of the basketball squad his senior year. After graduating from Columbia Law School, Mr. Walker served as an Army major in France during World War I. He went to China 1920-1921 as a representative of the Guaranty Trust Co. of New York. Then, after his two years in China, he became associated with his father in utility investments and industrial reorganizations in the South and Midwest. He later was associated for several years with New York City investment firms, subsequently became engaged in the oil business, and in 1946 returned to Mississippi to manage family interests there. Mr. Walker married Elinor Ritter of Denver, Colorado (daughter of Halsted L. Ritter '91 and Grace Lurline May Ritter), and together they had three sons - Morrison Ritter Walker (aka, Guy M. "Binx" Walker) x-'44, Fisk Halsted "Nibs" Walker '50 and Bruce Walker '53.