Leo Woodrow Walton

Leo Woodrow Walton, 101, of Harrison, Arkansas peacefully passed away at his home surrounded by family on May 20, 2024.  He was born on July 27, 1922, in Walters, Oklahoma, the son of Floyd and Myrtle (Gibson) Walton. 

When you live to be 101 years old, you have experienced many things in life.  Leo Walter’s life was full of adventures and new beginnings. He has seen and witnessed things that some of us will never have.  He crashed landed a plane while serving our country in the war, not because it was shot down, but because the wing was struck by lightning.  It was in the desert of Saudi Arabia that it happened, and miraculously, no one was seriously injured, and everyone walked away.  He and another man were in a vehicle driving in the desert on a foggy morning and got hit head on by an oil field truck. The other man was killed but Leo was unconscious for 39 hours and suffered a shattered kneecap, which effectively ended any serious career in flying.  

Leo was the oldest of nine children.  He was born in Oklahoma but moved as a young child to the Pruitt area during the Great Depression. When he was 8 years old, he got to ride in a two-seater airplane with his father, this was a pivotal moment in his life.  His career went from building airplanes to piloting huge transports during World War II.  His life included being the son of a sharecropper, a pilot flying big shots around the Middle East, raising a family and being an ice cream distributor to the Ozarks. 

Even after the war, Leo still loved flying.  He flew delegates around the Middle East.  Leo took the delegates to Damascus, Ankara, Istanbul, Tehran, Karachi, Delhi, Tripoli and Casablanca.  After being discharged from the Air Force in December of 1945, he signed a six-month contract to run the Abadan air base in Iran. He also spent some time as a captain for Tran-World Airlines.   He returned to Harrison in 1947, and became a successful businessman, owning a fleet of trucks that delivered ice cream to seven counties.

Around 1950, Leo successfully made the first night landing at the Boone County Airport.  This was when the airport still had a grass runway.  There were a couple of pickup trucks that were located at the end of the airstrip with their headlights on when he touched down. 

Leo passed away at his home that he helped design and build on Terrapin Creek Road.  He was passionate about fishing and gardening.  He had a bumper sticker displayed on his truck that proclaimed, “I fish therefore I lie.”  Walton got into the habit of bringing back rocks from his excursions on the lakes. Dozens of rocks now lie about his property.

Leo is preceded in death by his parents, Floyd and Myrtle, his wife Kay of over 40 years and four siblings.  Also, a daughter Teresa Rolins. 

He is survived by his daughters, Carole Walton, Vivian Hatchel, Pat Edwards, Judy Schaftner his grandsons and granddaughters; Justin Brewer, Jeff Hatchel, Carrie Renfrow, David Rolins, Lindsey Rolins and Cathy and several great grandchildren, as well as four siblings. 

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