Former Woman of the Year, community activist Walker dies at 55

In 1967 Rosemary Walker's 11-year-old son, Jimmy, was hit and killed by a truck while playing with a friend in North Las Vegas.

The incident was so traumatic that Walker suffered a miscarriage of what would have been her third child. That resulted in a hysterectomy.

Walker had given birth to Jimmy when she was just 13. She had her second child, daughter Terry, when she was 18. A single mother, she dropped out of high school and for years battled alcoholism. Yet, despite such adversity early on, the feisty 4-foot-10 1/2-inch native Nevadan persevered.

Walker became an inspirational success story as a Clark County family support supervisor who tracked down deadbeat dads and made them pay child support, as a member of Alcoholics Anonymous who helped scores of Las Vegans give up booze and as a counselor to local pregnant teens and young girls at risk.

Walker, who in 1995 was named Woman of the Year by the Nevada attorney general's office for her "activism, dedication and community involvement," died of heart failure Monday at the University Medical Center. She was 55.

Services for Walker, who lived in Las Vegas 35 years, will be 7 p.m. today at Bunkers Mortuary Chapel.

"I'm so proud of my mother for all she accomplished and all she overcame," said Terry Weiser of Westminster, Calif. "She was a remarkable woman who always spoke her mind. She lived her life at just one speed -- high. I could never keep up with her."

C.A. Watts, director of the district attorney's Family Support Division and Walker's boss, said that while she was tough with noncustodial parents, Walker was compassionate to those who sought help when their ex-spouses wouldn't pay up.

"She had a heart as big as all outdoors," Watts said. "Rosemary was well-respected by her peers and had great enthusiasm for her work. It won't be easy to replace her."

Walker's best friend, Mary, an alcoholic who has been sober for 19 years, said Rosemary's work with Alcoholics Anonymous was vital to the community.

"She founded the Bean Pot (Alcoholics Anonymous) meeting place in North Las Vegas, which was next door to a bar," said Mary, who asked that her last name not be printed because Alcoholics Anonymous members sign an anonymity clause.

"Rosemary would joke that members, especially the newer ones, had to make a tough decision on which door to enter."

The Bean Pot eventually merged with another AA meeting group to form the "How It Works" group, which now meets regularly in a local church basement.

"She sponsored more than 25 members, including me, and helped at least another 100 people get sober in her years with Alcoholics Anonymous," Mary said.

At the time of her death, Walker had been sober for 21 years.

Born Rose Mary Busico on March 22, 1943, in Ely, Walker did not learn until 1993 that the first name she had used for half a century actually was her first and middle names. She made that discovery after finding her birth certificate while going through old family documents.

Walker was one of three children of Tony Busico and the former Mary Jane Lee, now Mary Jane Aiken, who survives her daughter and today lives in North Las Vegas.

Although she quit school as a teenager, Walker later earned a high school equivalency diploma.

Walker came to Las Vegas with her two children in 1964. Two years after Jimmy was killed she was hired by Clark County as a case worker in the child support division. She left county employment in October 1975 and returned in July 1981 to work in the DA's Family Support Division.

In August 1991, Walker was promoted to supervisor, and a short time later was named one of four unit managers.

She also was a driving force behind the county's Christmas in April project in which county workers volunteer their time and business leaders donate supplies to fix rundown homes of the elderly.

On April 8, 1995, Walker received the Nevada Woman of the Year award, which also is called the Women's Role Model award.

The plaque reads in part: "In recognition of your outstanding contribution in providing a valuable guidance and leadership to the citizens of Nevada through your activism, dedication and community involvement."

In her off-hours, Walker enjoyed driving her motor home to the mountains where she would fish and hike. However, that seemingly healthy lifestyle was offset by her longtime cigarette smoking habit.

After being single most of her adult life, Walker had planned to marry her longtime friend, Gerry Aiken, her stepfather's brother, sometime this year.

In addition to her mother and daughter, Walker is survived by an adopted son, Dirk Miller, of Reno; a brother, John Busico of Arnold, Calif.; a sister, Kathy Busico, of San Lorenzo, Calif.; and two grandchildren.

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