GOLDEN WEDDING

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXI, Issue 4952, 6 February 1937, Page 5

GOLDEN WEDDING

MR. AND MRS. J. T. WALKER. WELL-KNOWN TE KUITI FAMILY. In celebration of the event of the golden wedding of Mr. and Mrs, John Thomas Walker, of Rangitoto Road, Te Kuiti, in addition to the family being present, it is expected that about sixty friends will attend a reception at their residence at 3 p.m. to-day, while at night a social evening for the younger people will be held.

Mr. Walker was born in Lincolnshire in 1863 and removed with his family into Nottinghamshire when a boy. Mrs. Walker was born at Stavely, in Derbyshire, in 1862, and also came to reside in Nottinghamshire. After their marriage in 1887 they resided in Selston, where Mr. Walker took a leading part in local affairs, being for many years president of the local co-operative society, a member of the Parish Council, and a Methodist local preacher. In 1913 they decided to leave England and in October of that year sailed for New Zealand. For a short time they made their home in New Plymouth. Then in a few weeks they were successful in a land ballot, obtaining a farm at Mokauiti, where they lived until 1916, since wnich time they have occupied their present farm at Rangitoto Road. The family of eight sons and two daughters, with the exception of one son killed in France, are living on farms near Te Kuiti. There are twenty-nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. j