Ethnal Walker

It is with deep sadness that the family of Ethnal Nottingham Walker announces her death on Friday, September 12, 2025, at the age of 82.

Born in Hampton, Virginia, on February 6, 1943, Etna was raised on Holly Grove Farm outside of Nassawadox. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from Lynchburg College and embarked on a long and impactful career in education, teaching science for nearly forty years in Norfolk Public Schools.

In 1987, she moved to Gloucester, Virginia, where she became a devoted member of Abingdon Episcopal Church and completed her master’s degree in gifted education. A passionate educator, she fostered creativity as an Odyssey of the Mind coach and concluded her career as Science Department Chair at Granby High School. A strong proponent of hands-on learning, she believed that if science class wasn’t fun, you weren’t teaching it right.

Affable and gregarious, Etna was always on the move. She was active in the Middle Peninsula Fine Arts Association, a tireless fundraiser for The Children of the King’s Daughters Hospital, and a lifelong caretaker to a long line of horses. She was a master gardener, oyster grower, birdwatcher, and naturalist. Her home on the Severn River earned a spot on the hummingbird migration map, as she welcomed the return of dozens each spring. An avid horsewoman, she campaigned her favorite horse, Scho The Flag, to win the Green Hunter Championship of Virginia in 2010.

Etna traveled the world—visiting places she never imagined a farm girl from the Eastern Shore would see. She had her share of animal- and automobile-related accidents (and many more close calls), but rarely slowed down. On a trip to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, she was nearly chased down by a grizzly bear; on another, she almost fell backward down the grand staircase of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. No matter the risk, she always kept going.

In recent years, she returned to her beloved Eastern Shore. She will be remembered always by her family and friends for her kind heart, fearless spirit, and enduring resilience.

She was predeceased by her parents, Addison and Beulah Nottingham; her son, Warren Thomas Kelly, III; her husband, Joseph Alexander Walker, Jr.; and her brother-in-law, John Russell Parsons.

Left to cherish her memory are her daughter, Paige Kelly (Eddie Ford); her grandsons, Miller Thomas Solomon and Russell Douglas Solomon; her brother, Add Nottingham (Cheryl); sisters, Janey Parsons and Saralee Nottingham; her off-the-track thoroughbred, Stratocruiser; and a niece and nephews.

A graveside service will be held on Sunday, September 21st at 3:00 PM at Franktown Cemetery, with Rev. Sven vanBaars of Abingdon Episcopal Church and Rev. Bob Talbott of Franktown Methodist Church officiating. A reception will follow at the Franktown Methodist Church Hall.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Etna’s honor to Abingdon Episcopal Church or Franktown Methodist Church.

Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.doughtyfuneralhome.com

Arrangements were made by Doughty Funeral Home in Exmore, Virginia.