Jenks Walker: A Legend in His Own Time

History is only important when people, government or organizations take the time to record it for future generations. The Franconia Museum is pleased to have had a role in preserving the earlier community respect for Maurice Jenkins Walker for this report during 2026 Black History Month.

         The Museum was founded in 2001, 25 years ago. One of the first orders of business was to collect the memories of long-time residents. Sure, we knew about the World Wars and the Great Depression of the 1930s, but we had no idea how the people of Franconia lived through those trying days. Fortunately, there were still elders around who remembered those days or had heard their parents and family members talk about them.

         Every White youngster attended Franconia Elementary School back then, and all had warm, glowing memories about the Black school janitor, Jenks Walker, whose own children attended the nearby one-room Laurel Grove Colored School.  His daughter, Winnie Walker Spencer, who was in her 90s, and granddaughter Phylis Walker Ford, the Museum Board’s chairman, were surprised and pleased.

         “Write it down,” Winnie told those who talked about her father and Franconia in bygone days. And so they did, and the Museum published their memoirs in early editions of Francona Remembers, a series of books that record the history of Franconia and its people.

           Winnie lived until 2008. Long enough to see Laurel Grove Colored School restored and protected, largely through the efforts of Phyllis, her niece with whom she lived. Both also were honored to read the accolades for Jenks published in Volume One of Franconia Remembers, a series of books that include stories written about local families.

           Alvin Dennis, whose father built the four-room school at Franconia Road and Beulah Street, wrote about his time there and his memories of Jenks. The school was built in 1932, replacing a two-room school on Old Franconia Road.

           “The custodian was Mr. Jenks (cq) Walker, a black man who owned the farm across Beulah Street from Beulah Baptist Church,” Dennis wrote. “He was a very kind man who, according to legend, always had an extra sandwich in his lunch box for any hungry child who happened along……All of the kids loved and respected Jinks and he always got more presents than all the teachers combined at the Christmas program.”

           In 1982, former student Lynn Fitzgerald addressed a gathering marking the fiftieth anniversary of Franconia School. In it, he lauded Jenks Walker as the long-time custodian who was “ A Guardian and Counsellor at many times to me and other students.”

           Even before the Museum was formed, William Apperson Cooke had begun a long family and Franconia history that would appear in Volume 1 of Franconia Remembers. It includes an interview with Winnie Walker Spencer about her father Cooke conducted in 1996.

           “Jenks loved life and all of the things in it,” Winnie said according to Cooke. Incredible life force brought him joy in the morning. No dark night could ever defeat him. At the same time, he took time to help other people. He stood for the right things. So many never had the opportunity, but Jenks would reach out to help to give them a chance to serve.”

           Jenks motto, according to Winnie: “If I can help somebody as I go along my way, then my living will have not been in vain.”

           William said his father would buy fodder from Jenks and then borrow his Dodge stake body truck to haul it to the Cooke farm.

           The Nalls family lived nearby and were close friends with the Walkers. Young Buddy Nalls grew up to be a home builder and constructed brick houses for Winnie and her sister on the Walker farm. Young Cary Nalls later bought vegetables from Dumont Walker, who farmed the property after his father died.

           Sonny Wright, a rebellious lad who grew up to serve in the Navy and later become a member of the Museum Board of Directors, credits Jenks for keeping him in school. “I walked off one day,” Sonny said, “fed up with school. But Jenks caught up with me and talked me into returning to class.”

           William Jasper was much older than Georgianna Jackson when they were married in 1879. Both were former slaves freed before the Civil War, Jasper from the nearby Hayfield Plantation and Georgianna from the Episcopal Seminary in Alexandria. She was from King George, Virginia. Ironically, Jenks Walker was born the same year in Warrenton, Virginia. He would move to Franconia as a young boy.

           The Jaspers established a home on 13 acres in Franconia he had bought from Hayfield in 1860. He continued to work at Hayfield after being freed, building a home and cultivating crops in his spare time. He and Georgianna quickly decided a school and church were needed, so they set aside a half-acre on Beulah Road and begin constructing what would become Laurel Grove Colored School in 1881. Neighbors joined in and when it was finished, they started on the church, finishing in 1884.          

           The Jaspers had two children, Richard who died at an early age, and Georgianna, named for her mother. Georgianna finished Laurel Grove and married Jenks Walker in 1900 when she was 15. He was 21. All five of the Walker children attended Laurel Grove. Dumont was born in 1902, Van Dyke in 1905, Alma in 1907, Winnie in 1908, and Geneva in 1910. Van Dyke, Alma, Winnie and Geneva went on to earn college degrees and became schoolteachers. Winnie and Geneva taught in Fairfax County, Van Dyke in Washington, DC and Alma in the City of Alexandria.

Because of an illness, Dumont stayed home and tended the farm after his father died. His two children, Dumont, Jr., and Phyllis, both finished college. Dumont, Jr., was killed in an automobile accident in 1984 while serving as principal at Cunningham Park Elementary School.

           The property was sold in the late 1990s, and Phyllis coordinated a process that preserved and protected the school and the church. The school still stands like a beacon on Beulah Street (old timers still call it Beulah Road). The church burned in 2004, but the nearby school was saved by thoughtful members of the Franconia Volunteer Fire Department, who kept a steady stream of water of the wood structure, so it wasn’t engulfed by the blaze that consumed the church.

           Today, the Walker property is home to a first-class office park and the entrance to the Walker Lane Emergency Medical Center. Next door, a full-service hospital is rising to completion. The main entrance will be off Jasper Drive off Walker Lane.

           Laurel Grove Colored School is an important reminder of Franconia’s past. Although the races were separate, neighbors worked together to help each other during difficult times. Jenks Walker was a leading example of helping hands extended by all.