Time of Joy Photography: February 2009

Rita Joyce Walker

Feb 14, 1950 - Feb 3, 2009

Sometimes in lfe things happen that is hard for us to accept and death of a dear friend is one of those things. I have been living in Florida for the past 22 years and we sometimes don't keep in touch as we should and I am sorry to say I never knew she was sick until her death. Oh if I had of known I would have called, sent a card and I would have prayed allot but I didn't because I did not know of her illness but Rita was the kind of friend that when we did see one another it was as though we had not been apart. Rita has a twin her name is Reba and the three of us used to hang out together many years ago so I remember the best of times and in someways glad I did not know of the worst of times because I only have the good memories but oh her sisters and children are missing her so but dear ones know that she is with our Lord and is walking on streets of gold. She would not come back if she could. We have that hope the hope of seeing her again.

The following is Rita's obituary

May you enjoy your new Adventure Dear Friend.

Rita Joyce Walker, 58, of Athens, died Tuesday, February 3, 2009 at the University of North Carolina Medical Center, Chapel Hill, N.C.Born February 14, 1950, at Covel, she was the daughter of the late Arthur Burgess Pennington Sr. and Ruth Marie Clark Pennington.Rita was a graduate of Princeton High School Class of 1970. For more than 25 years, Rita was a beautician and a former owner/operator of her own business. The last 10 years of her life, she served as a waitress for the Cracker Barrel Restaurant of Charleston and Princeton. She was a member of the Rich Creek Baptist Church at Spanishburg. Rita was a truly special person, she always put others before herself, she was loved by many and will be greatly missed. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Gaston Willie Walker Sr., a grandson, Levi Walker and a sister, Betty Belcher.Survivors: Her children, Heather Marie Howell and husband Adam of Matoaka, Gaston Willie Walker Jr., Joshua Allen Walker both of Beeson; a very special granddaughter, Madison Hope Howell who brought her the greatest joy and was the light of her life. Siblings, Peggy Stewart of Vinton, Ohio, Arthur B. Pennington Jr. and wife Janice of Spotsylvania, Va., Wayne Pennington and wife Katherine of Paintsville, Mary Porterfield and husband John of Princeton, and her twin sister, Reba Wright and husband Roger of Athens; her fiancé, John White of Princeton; a brother in law, Harold “Butch” Belcher of Princeton.Funeral services will be held 11:00 a.m. Saturday, February 7, 2009 from the Burns Wornal Chapel of the Memorial Funeral Directory on the Athens Road in Princeton with Pastor Ralph Calfee officiating. Burial will follow in the Roselawn Memorial Gardens on the Courthouse Road in Princeton.Friends may visit with the family on Saturday from 9:30 a.m. until the service hour.Serving as pallbearers will be John Porterfield Jr., Shane Wright, Roger Lee Wright Jr., John White, Kevin Conner and Eric Porterfield.The Walker family is being served by the Memorial Funeral Directory and Cremation Center on the Athens Road in Princeton.