From his Kearney office, Hiram Walker, M.D., assisted in the education of hundreds of UNMC medical students. The longtime UNMC preceptor died Saturday at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney. He was 78.
Dr. Walker was a UNMC preceptor for 21 years and a clinical associate professor in the family practice department. In 1990, he received UNMC’s J.G. Elliott Award for promoting quality rural health care and for his support of family practice education.
Services for Dr. Walker are Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. at St. James Catholic Church in Kearney. Burial will be at the Kearney cemetery. Memorials may be sent to the Hiram and Suz Walker Scholarship established with the Good Samaritan Hospital Foundation or to St. James Catholic Church.
A World War II veteran, Dr. Walker graduated from the University of Nebraska College of Medicine in 1952. He had a family practice in Alma, Neb., from 1955 to 1965 and later moved to Kearney, where he was a partner at the Kearney Clinic. He also served as vice president of medical affairs and chief of staff at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney.
Dr. Walker served as president of the American Academy of Family Practice from 1984 to 1985. He also was a member of the board of counselors and board of directors of the Nebraska State Medical Association and served as the organization’s president in 1986 and 1987.
Dr. Walker is survived by his wife, Suz Walker of Kearney; three sons, Steve of Oak Ridge, Tenn., Tim of Lewiston, Idaho, and Tom of China Township, Mich.; three daughters Susy Smith of Fort Collins, Colo., Mary Beth Mudrick of Topeka, Kan., and Monica Lister of Louisville, Colo.; one sister Ellen Kerr of Billings, Mont.; one brother Oscar Walker of Holmsbeach, Fla.; 14 grandchildren and two great grandchildren.