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Henry Roland Walton, 93, faithful husband and loving father, passed away on Friday, August 14, 2020, at the Magee Hospital. He was born on January 5, 1927, to Arthur and Bessie Walton of Waycross, Georgia.
After graduating from Waycross High School in May of 1944, Henry enlisted in the US Army and attended classes at South Georgia College while waiting to turn eighteen. After the war, he went to work for Western Electric, traveling the South installing telephone systems. His job eventually brought him to Mendenhall and there he met and married Tommie Dell Ross in 1952. Soon after, he was drafted back into the army during the Korean conflict and served for two years as an electronics specialist. After the service, he opened a TV repair business on Main Street, Mendenhall, and ran it until hired as a manager by Universal Manufacturing in 1963. Five years later, Henry went to work for South Central Bell in their Mendenhall office. Tommie passed away in 1976 and Henry soon became a locksmith, running his own business until his eventual retirement.
Henry was a member of First Baptist Church of Mendenhall and for many years could be found each morning having coffee at Ward’s with other local retirees, solving the world’s problems one cup at a time. Since the age of seven, Henry enjoyed being an amateur magician and magic collector. He also loved woodworking and built made-to-order magician’s tables for fellow magic enthusiasts. Henry was a lifelong member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians and the Order of Merlin. He was an avid reader, and loved a wide variety of genres including mysteries, westerns, and the Harry Potter series. Henry enjoyed telling jokes and posted them daily to his Facebook page. Since 2019, he had been a resident of the Mississippi State Veterans Home in Collins.
Henry is preceded in death by his father, Arthur Roland Walton; mother, Bessie Barrett Walton; and wife, Tommie Ross Walton. He is survived by his daughter, Ann Walton Johnson [Robby]; son, Ross Walton, grandchildren: Larry Johnson [Vicki]; Joshua Johnson [Lindsay]; Kaitlin Johnson Hinton [Kale]; and great grandchildren: Ember Johnson; Ellia Johnson; Ennabelle Johnson; Jett Johnson; Kannon Johnson; Miles Johnson; and Olleigh Tayte Hinton.
