2020 Honoree - Doug Walker
Louis F. Schultz Distinguished Service Award
Doug Walker can be found everywhere there’s work to be done making our community a better place. He served as the President of the Board of Josephine Community Libraries during its resurrection, worked with Josephine County Search and Rescue, and has served on the boards of a UCAN, AllCare Community Foundation, and the Library Foundation. He’s been a Captain at Faith House, and was a tireless volunteer in Grants Pass public schools, where he was known as by students as “Science Guy.” He has served with the Food Bank, on the District 7 Budget Committee, as President of Rogue Gateway Rotary, on the Steering Committee for Rogue Indivisible, and as the Chair of the City of Grants Pass Housing Advisory Committee. His extensive work launching Foundry Village caps off a truly impressive resume of local service.
Doug is a retired builder and general contractor of 28 years, and currently manages his own rental properties. He was raised in the San Francisco area and served four years in the US Army. He has lived in Oregon for 25 years.
In the last few years Doug has started a new hobby of making large pieces of yard art out of recycled metals and various materials he finds in dumpsters and at demolition sites. “My focus has always been to bring a smile, and maybe some joy to those who see my art, which I find contagious. It brings me tremendous joy. “
One of his most important efforts was running and failing to become an elected school board member. He says, “So much more is to be learned in failing than in succeeding.”
Doug and his wife Bev are the parents of three young adults, Maddy, Chris, and Shawn.
Upon learning he had been selected for this award, Doug said, ”This is an amazing honor, I want people to understand the only reason I’m here is because of the brilliant people, groups, ideas, and efforts that I’ve been lucky enough to work with. It is because of those around us that we accomplish what we do.”
Selected nonprofit organization: Foundry Village