Mary "Alberta" Walker

Alberta (Bertie) Walker, 102, passed away Tuesday, July 19 at her home in Pocatello. A lifetime member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, she was born on March 4, 1914 in Idaho Falls, Idaho to Cyrus E. and Hattie Butler Jacobson. She grew up on the family homestead near Irwin, Idaho where she attended grade school in the one-room school in Blowout Canyon not far from the family ranch. She often talked about walking or riding horses to school each day and having the responsibility of firing up the pot-bellied stove to heat the school during cold weather. She also learned the value of hard work helping, along with her eight brothers and sisters, tend the animals and working the fields. This is where she first developed her life-long love of horses. She became an accomplished horse-woman and was still riding in competitions into her late eighties. In 1946 she became one of the first female members of the Bonneville County Mounted Sheriff's Posse and the first female jockey in Idaho. In later life she received an award from the Idaho Riding Association for being the longest active member.

She left the ranch in her teens to attend High School in Rigby Idaho. After high school she moved to Idaho Falls where she worked at Kress' Five and Dime and met her future husband, Kenneth C. Walker. They were married on October 19, 1933. In 1947, they were sealed in the Idaho Falls Temple. They had three children, son Brent, daughter Lynn, and son Arlen. In 1956 the family moved to their farm in the Shelley area. They ran the family farm and Alberta worked at Sears in Idaho Falls until she retired. She closed up the farm and moved to Pocatello in 2002 to be near her children.

She was preceded in death by her parents, four brothers, four sisters, her husband, Kenneth, her son Brent and his wife Marilyn. She is survived by her daughter Lynn (Fred) McDaniel, son Arlen Walker, seven grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren, and 12 great-great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at11:00 am on Saturday, July 23, 2016 at Wilks Funeral Home, 211 W. Chubbuck Road. A viewing will be held 1 hour prior to the services. Interment will follow at Fielding Memorial Cemetery, in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Condolences and memories may be shared with the family under the "Share a Memory" tab on this page.