Lady Winifred Walker
Lady Walker has passed away and a number of people from Wesley Mission were at the November 21 2006 Belrose Uniting Church Thanksgiving Service for her life and ministry. This is the end of an era.
In 1933 the young Methodist Minister Alan Walker was appointed to the Hornsby circuit. His first few months north of Sydney were notable for two events. First, the 21 year old probationary minister met the 16 year old Winifred Channon and he boarded in a house opposite the Channon household. She was smitten with him but he was determined to remain aloof from any romance with a parishioner.
Second, four months after arriving in the area Alan began his first evangelical mission. He was greatly encouraged by a telegram from the elderly evangelist Rev WG Taylor, who had created the Central Methodist Mission (now Wesley Mission) back in 1884. Taylor said: "plough deeply, expect much, am with you in prayer". Coincidentally Alan was to quote that statement again 25 years later when he was inducted as the Mission's Superintendent.
Having completed successfully his probationary year, Walker was transferred to the North Croydon Methodist circuit. The romance picked up again and it continued while Alan and Winifred were both studying at the University of Sydney. They were married on March 26 1938.
This was the beginning of one of the most successful husband and wife Christian partnerships in the 20th century. Alan became one of the most important Christian evangelists anywhere in the world. Winifred had a successful career in her own right.
As a homemaker Winifred had the primary responsibility for raising their four children (two of whom are Uniting Church ministers and so maintaining the Walker heritage spanning the generations).
I joined the Mission almost exactly 30 years ago this week and so I got to know both Alan and Winifred. The only time I ever knew Alan to get emotional was at the final Mission Council meeting when he paid tribute to his wife. As readers of the definitive biography "Alan Walker: Conscience of the Nation" (by Don Wright) will know, Alan acknowledged in his private diaries that much of the caring for the children had perforce to be done by Winifred alone because he was doing so much travelling in Australia and overseas.
Young Winifred was told by her mother that if she married a Methodist minister she would have to learn to speak in public. Winifred felt unable to do that and so her mother also enrolled herself in the class to accompany her daughter in learning public speaking.
Winifred became an accomplished public speaker. Much later on, at the Mission, she began the Tuesday fellowship group Christian Climbers (which continues to this day as Wesley Christian Fellowship). Eventually Winifred worked in parallel to her husband on evangelical missions and made her own calls for commitment.
At the 1986 World Methodist Conference in Nairobi, Kenya both people (by now Sir Alan and Lady Winifred) were awarded the World Methodist Peace Prize. This was a very popular decision.
At the height of his impact, the Sydney magazine The Bulletin called Alan Walker "Mr Methodism" He was easily Australia's best known and most influential Methodist (and one of the most famous in the world).
This week we have been honouring "Mrs Methodism".
Keith Suter, Consultant for Social Policy
Broadcast Friday 24th November 2006 on Radio 2GB's "Brian Wilshire Programme" at 9pm.
Share this page