Remembering Jo Walker and a Squandered Opportunity

Posted By Les Conklin on Sep 18, 2015

Desert Foothills Scenic Drive Entry Sign, Cave Creek Road, North of Pinnacle Peak Road, Phoenix, Arizona.

By Les Conklin

Earlier this month, I learned from Evelyn Johnson, Executive Director, Cave Creek Museum, that Jo Walker had died in January 2013. Some of you are wondering, “Who is Jo Walker ?”

Jo was an active human being who, of course, will be remembered in different ways, for different things, by different people. I remember Jo Walker, and hope you will too, because of her meaningful work with the Desert Foothills Scenic Drive and scenic corridors in Scottsdale and Phoenix.

The Desert Foothills Scenic Drive was established by Maricopa County residents in 1963. The goal was to showcase the Sonoran Desert and protect roadside vegetation and vistas along the northern reaches of Scottsdale Road andO Cave Creek Road. The area was lightly populated and the preservation effort, one of the first in the Valley of the Sun, was a major initiative that involved many of the residents in the then remote area.

Originally, both legs of the drive were under the jurisdiction of Maricopa County until annexations that took place in the 1980s resulted in the Cave Creek Road and Scottsdale Road sections coming under the jurisdiction of the City of Phoenix and the City of Scottsdale, respectively. As the decades passed, the preservation stories of the two sections of the drive diverged.

I remember Jo Walker when I drive north on Cave Creek Road, past Pinnacle Peak Road, look to the east, and see a concrete slab, pictured here,  announcing “Desert Foothills Scenic Drive.” That lonely sign is all that is left of the Cave Creek Road section of the original Desert Foothills Scenic Drive. Actually, the sign would be gone too, if it wasn’t for Jo Walker.

In the 1980s, bulldozers often rolled before questions were asked. A Phoenix developer demolished the original Scenic Drive entry sign and park near the southern end of the Cave Creek Road leg of the drive. Jo Walker made the  builder replace the destroyed sign. The lonely, re-built, barbed-wire surrounded monument, pictured here,  is all that remains of the drive on Cave Creek Road.  The  original sign and small park, roadside plant exhibits, and vegetative setbacks have, for the most-part disappeared, the victim of urban sprawl.

In the early 1990s, Walker, a Cave Creek resident, tried to ignite an effort to save the Desert Foothills Scenic Drive on Cave Creek Road in Phoenix.  In the mid-1990s, Friends of the Scenic Drive also attempted the same thing.  The efforts went nowhere; the  forlorn entry sign is a reminder of a squandered opportunity to preserve a unique landmark and roadside.

Scenic Drive Exhibit Area, Just Off Scottsdale Road

I also remember Jo Walker when I think of Scottsdale’s success with its Scenic Corridors and Scenic Drive. Jo not only advocated for the Desert Foothills Scenic she advocated for the establishments of Scenic Corridors before  neighborhood groups, and planning commissions in Phoenix and Scottsdale. So please remember that Jo Walker cared about the future of our roadsides, quality of life, and tourist appeal. In north Scottsdale, partly because of her early support, we have sections of Pima Road, Scottsdale Road, Dynamite Boulevard, and Cave Creek Road where roadside vegetation is protected. Unfortunately, Shea Boulevard, Scottsdale’s first Scenic Corridor, which provided stunning views of the McDowells, has been victimized by the same forces that overwhelmed northern Cave Creek Road.

Desert Foothills Scenic Drive on North Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale, Looking South from Boulders Rock Formation, July 2015

Jo Walker was also one of the first supporters Scottsdale’s Scenic Drive restoration efforts. Herb Drinkwater gave me her phone number and said that Walker called him frequently regarding the maintenance of plant identification signs along Scottsdale Road. I called Jo Walker and she put me in touch with Corkie Cockburn and other Scenic Drive founders. From those sources, Friends of the Scenic Drive was able to restore the original plant identifications signs and document the Scenic Drive’s story. Walker also participated in our events celebrating the installation of new scenic corridor entry signs and exhibits as Scottsdale’s restoration effort progressed. Jo Walker helped the City of Scottsdale and Friends of the Scenic Drive demonstrate that it is possible to protect at least part of an area’s heritage from creeping normalism, i.e. over-time special places look like every other place; see Peanuts cartoon in “Scenic Corridors” above.

Jo Walker would be saddened and angered, but not totally surprised, by the state’s proposal to replace Scottsdale Scenic Drive exhibit area with major commercial development. (Read “State’s Proposal Betrays Scenic Drive Promise and People.”.)  Jo surely knew that our culture thrives because of change, and that people and governments are often driven by short-term goals and conveniently fail to apply history’s long-term lessons.

Jo and her husband, Ed, were active volunteers. According to her obituary published in the Sonoran News, “She was appointed as a member of the Area C & D Planning Committee, then the Desert View Tri-villages Planning committee, both of Phoenix. She joined the CCIA Conservation Committee, which taught living with the desert. First a ‘plant parent’ for the Desert Foothills Scenic Drive, then Jo was chairman of the Drive. Next a board member of the CCIA (Cave Creek Improvement Association), then President. Manager of the Cave Creek Cemetery was another volunteer job she took on for several years. Ed and Jo both worked hard with the Committee to incorporate the Town of Cave Creek. Upon incorporation, Jo was a member of the first Planning and Zoning Commission for a number of years.”

Jo Walker Obituary

Courtesy of the Sonoran News

“Jo Walker of Cave Creek died January 31, 2013, joyously rejoining the love of her life, Ed walker, who had died December 8, 2007. Joanne Cecile Donnelly Walker was born in Chicago, Ill. on December 7, 1932 to Cecile Lois Elfstrom Donnelly and Joseph H. Donnelly; both had predeceased her.

“Jo grew up in Cecil, a small lakeside tourist town in Wisconsin. She graduated from the College of Saint Teresa in Winona, Minnesota with a bachelor’s degree in Medical Technology. She trained at Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston, Ill. before working in hospitals and clinics in Wisconsin, Iowa and Texas. This was followed by working in research in the Internal Medicine Department of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, Texas. She considered this the most interesting part of her career.

“It was in Dallas that she met Ed (Edwin) Walker of Houston, Texas. Their marriage was the beginning of many adventures, making a lifetime of happy memories. They traveled and camped in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California and Mexico.

“During the 1970s Jo and Ed made may friends square dancing in Dallas and then in Scottsdale, Ariz. Some of these friendships have continued through the years. They were funding officers of the Desert Drifters Square Dance and Camping Club, which still exists today. While in Scottsdale, Jo volunteered at the Arizona Section of the Scottsdale Library.

“A few years were spent back in Texas, at Lubbock, where again good friends were made and real winters were experienced. Returning to Arizona, their new home was built in Cave Creek. Enjoying the desert, it wasn’t long before Jo was again volunteering. She was appointed as a member of the Area C & D Planning Committee, then the Desert View Tri-villages Planning committee, both of Phoenix. She joined the CCIA Conservation Committee, which taught living with the desert. First a ‘plant parent’ for the Desert Foothills Scenic Drive, then Jo was chairman of the Drive. Next a board member of the CCIA (Cave Creek Improvement Association), then President. Manager of the Cave Creek Cemetery was another volunteer job she took on for several years. Ed and Jo both worked hard with the Committee to incorporate the Town of Cave Creek. Upon incorporation, Jo was a member of the first Planning and Zoning Commission for a number of years.

“Being diagnosed with thyroid cancer was another turning point in Jo’s life. Despite health issues, she and Ed discovered a love of cruising. Their more than 20 cruises together included trips to Mexico, Alaska, Hawaii, the Panama Canal, many Caribbean Islands, transatlantic cruises from Galveston to Rome and Barcelona, including stops in Casablanca and Gibraltar, and a river cruise along the Danube. They also enjoyed several lengthy driving trips through Ireland.

“Volunteering with ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association, Jo became a member of the Board. Ed was also an active volunteer at the annual conferences of ThyCa. When Jo’s cancer recurred, they made numerous trips to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.

“Left behind are her sisters Jeanne Morin of Glendale, Ariz. and Barbara Schneider and her husband Clarence of Cecil, Wisc., brothers Dennis and his wife Marjory of Renton, Wash. and Michael and his wife Carmel of Surprise, Ariz., and as well as many nieces and nephews and their families and friends in Arizona, nationally and internationally.

“Jo was looking forward to being reunited with the love of her life, Ed, who had died December 8, 2007.”

.