Herman Lawrence Walker (1921 - 1937)

Died 18 Mar 1937 at age 15 in New London, Rusk, Texas, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Dolores Maxwell [send private message]

Biography

Herman was killed in an explosion at his school, along with his sister Annie and their mother Euda. Youngest sister Lucille was injured, but survived.

Hermon, Annie, and their mother are buried next to Mr. Walker at at Pleasant Hill cemetery near New London. A newspaper clipping from that week reads: "Mother, Daughter, and Son Buried Side by Side As Endless Processions Begin - Upon on Pleasant Hill, 18 men bore three caskets in a row for three graves side by side, marked with pine boards for Hermon, Morine, and mother. This is just four miles away from Old London where countless others were blasted on their way to eternity Thursday afternoon - the spot Alvin Walker selected beneath aging cedars to place his little girl, his son and their mother, and where many others began their final sleep in peace Saturday afternoon."

The New London School explosion occurred on March 18, 1937, when a natural gas leak caused an explosion, destroying the London School of New London, Texas, a community in Rusk County previously known as "London". The disaster killed more than 295 students and teachers. As of 2017, the event is the third deadliest disaster in the history of Texas, after the 1900 Galveston hurricane and the 1947 Texas City disaster.

London School did not publish a yearbook in 1937, instead substituting a memorial book that recognized all of the students and teachers who had died during the disaster.

Sources

• https://www.facebook.com/newlondonmuseum/posts/remembering-8th-grade-victim-hermon-walker12131921-3181937hermons-younger-sister/2217272888374848/

• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5544409/herman-lawrence-walker

• 1930 US census

• Texas, Death Certificates, 1903-1982

• https://www.findagrave.com/virtual-cemetery/367568?page=3#sr-13698618

• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_London_School_explosion

• http://nlsd.net/Cenotaph.htm

• https://www.thestoryoftexas.com/discover/artifacts/1936-london-school-yearbook