Former 'Commercial Dispatch' News Editor Dies at 88

By: E&P Staff A prominent Southern newspaper editor died early Wednesday morning after suffering a major heart attack the day before.

Wanda D. Walker, 88, was one of the first female editors of a major daily paper in Mississippi when she was named news editor of the Commercial Dispatch in Columbus, Miss. She later went on to become the lifestyles and features editor at the Marshall (Texas) News Messenger, where she won numerous awards from the Associated Press in Texas and was well-known for her ?Wanderin? with Wanda? column. She was also a correspondent for the Memphis Commercial Appeal.

Walker was heavily involved in her community as well, serving in various clubs and boards including the Harrison County Historical Commission, Harrison County Commission on the Status of Women, Friends of the Library and the Harrison County Conservation Society. In 1978, she was honored as Marshall?s Woman of Achievement.

After retiring from the News Messenger, she and her husband, Jesse, established Walker and Walker Advertising Agency. Her husband died in 1995.