Tony Love Walker

Tony Love Walker sat down with me for Heroes I Know.

Florida Gator. Raised Tampa. Saint Pete. Bradenton. Seventeen years old her mom took her to a University of Florida game against Kentucky. The Swamp. She had never seen that many young people in one place. She wanted in.

She did not get in on the first try. Santa Fe Community College. Two years. Then UF. Too big. Macroeconomics on a screen in an auditorium. She failed. 1990. She applied to American Airlines to be a flight attendant. They flew her to Dallas. Her mom called it a flying waitress. She did not take the job. She failed out.

Practice marriage. A son. She tended bar. People asked if she went to UF. She said she attended. She fought her way back in. 1998 she took Dr. Denslow's class again. She looked him in the eye. It is not going to happen again. She graduated. Advertising. College of Journalism and Communications.

Parents divorced when she was three. Mom raised her and her sister. Nursing school. Two jobs in a convenience store. No beds. Click-clack beach chairs. Key West at eleven on a bicycle. Atlanta in the seventh grade. Cheerleading. Spirit stick. Base of the pyramid. Then Bradenton. Start over. Tenth grade. She tried out again.

Army. Fort McCoy. That is where she bought Buttercup. 1988 Jeep Wrangler. Stick shift. Master Fitness Trainer. 81st Readiness Division. Big formations. Command voice like the cheerleader she was. One. Two. Three. Extra about it.

Petunia is the family Porsche. A hybrid Panamera. Mr. Grizzly is a 1986 conversion van. Gold disco balls. Velour seats. She drives Maryland roads to work. She learned to slide that Porsche a little.

She was nervous before we hit record. Then it felt like talking. She would not watch the tape. She does not like her own voice. I liked it just fine. That is why we hit record. Get the story on tape before we are too old or too sick to tell it.