Kenneth Neal Walls

Survivors include his wife, JoAnne Finley Walls of Tupelo, MS; five daughters, Stacy Walls Browning (Brian) of Peterstown, WV, Karen Dempsey of Tupelo, MS, Kimberly Walls of Maryland Heights, MO, Mel Waldrop (Chas), Bandon, OR and Michelle Hickey (David), San Marino, CA; a grandson, Michael Dudding of Southaven, MS; and a great-granddaughter, Emma Grace Dudding of Tupelo, MS; the mother of his children, Sue Ann Stone Hiatt of Peterstown, WV; the mother of his great-grandchild, Allison Price of Tupelo, MS; a sister-in-law, Mamie Vanlandingham Walls of Vardaman, MS.

Ken was preceded in death by his parents; his brother, Roger Wayne Walls; a daughter, Mary Ann Martz; and a grandchild, Keegan James Hickey.

Mr. Walls graduated from Tupelo High School in 1953 at 16 years old and went to Washington, DC, to serve as a clerk for the FBI. He learned that programmers (whatever that was) made more money, so he applied for that job and was selected as one of a few from hundreds of applicants. This began a long career in the computing industry, where he worked for General Electric and Computer Sciences Corporation. He ran an organization of more than 2,000 people at CSC. He left the corporate world and, for 10 years, ran a consulting business where he provided temporary upper management positions for companies and helped them find and retain executive officers.
Ken met his second wife, JoAnne, at the 50th reunion of the 1953 class of THS. After marriage they settled into retired life in Tupelo, where they had both grown up. Travel and golf became one of their passions, right behind family, and Ken had a number golf buddies at the Tupelo Country Club. Ken will be greatly missed by his friends and loved ones.

A Celebration of Life Service will be held at 3:00 PM Saturday, March 7, 2020 at Browning Funeral Home Chapel in Pontotoc. Friends and family are invited to share fellowship and stories about Ken. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to the American Lung Association, 55 W. Wacker Dr., Suite 1150, Chicago, IL 60601, www.lung.org, or to the American Heart Association, 7272 Greenville Avenue, Dallas, TX 75231, www.heart.org.