Bertha Lee Walker
Bertha Lee Walker, a beloved wife, sister, mother, and grandmother, departed this life on April 7, 2021, after a courageous year-long fight with cancer. Miss Bertha was the “She Hulk” of the Walker family and the stitching that held them all together and will be dearly missed by her friends and family and the hundreds of young adults in West Memphis and around the country that she helped inspire to become successful, responsible adults.
She was born Bertha Lee Underwood in Salem, Arkansas on August 18, 1970 along with a fraternal twin sister Janie to the late George and Mavis Underwood.
She is survived by her husband, Robert Walker of West Memphis, who she married in 1988; sons Wade and Logun, Logun’s wife Christine, and daughter Brittiney and her partner, Angel Spencer; two sisters, Janie Underwood and Cinda Craven; and four grandchildren, Ariana and Hannah Walker, and Kashton and Carson Black.
Miss Bertha worked at Gene Stimson’s Big Star and Home Depot in West Memphis at the time of her death. She was also a well known presence at the family business, Daycare Kids Comics, Toys and Antiquities where she was a master at organizing and arranging comic books.
She also enjoyed taking roads trips with Robert to track down elusive toys and buy comic book collections, and loved outings to the beaches in Biloxi, Mississippi and Gulf Shores, Alabama.
Miss Bertha was the love of Robert’s life. The two met on the school bus in Viola, Arkansas when Robert noticed that she was not wearing any shoes so as not to get them dirty in order to be able to play on the basketball court.
Miss Bertha was the family hoarder and Penny pincher, but was a very kind and giving person who presided as the unofficial den mother to a generation of neighborhood kids in need of parental guidance. She never craved the spotlight — that was always Robert’s job — but she made sure the show went on.
Miss Bertha enjoyed working and raising exotic animals from raccoons to alligators, and shared her husband and her family’s passion for collecting comic books and other nostalgia, especially The Incredible Hulk. She was fond of vampire movies and loved watching every Marvel and Disney movie ever made.
Miss Bertha also loved home cooked spaghetti and shrimp fried rice.
Her family is particularly proud of how she inspired people and made it to see one last Easter.
The family will hold a celebration of Miss Bertha’s life on Sunday, April 11 at 3 p.m. at the Daycare Kids Comics, Toys and Antiquities store at 710 Ingram Blvd. All are welcome to come out and share their stories and memories of Miss Bertha.
Miss Bertha donated her remains to Genesis Legacy Whole Body Donation Foundation in Memphis, Tennessee, for medical research. She requested that her ashes be scattered at either Niagara Falls or the Grand Canyon so that her family can have one final adventure in her honor in either the East or out West.
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