Joe Walka of Unit 355 Earns Life Master


Joe Walka of Flagstaff, Arizona recently earned the master points he needed to achieve the Life Master Award.

Joe was born and raised in St. Louis Missouri. Joe attended college at Grinnell College in Iowa. He was an English major and edited the college newspaper, The Scarlet and Black. He then attended Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana where he earned his MBA. Joe then moved to Washington, D. C. where he served as an economist with the Bureau of the Budget and as Assistant to the Chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers for three years. He worked for Walter W. Heller and in his work, met Presidents Kennedy and Johnson.

He then attended Harvard University where he earned his Ph.D. in Political Economy and Government. He took his first teaching job at the University of Arizona where he was also Associate Dean of the College of Business and Public Administration. Later, he moved to Idaho State University where he directed the MBA program and taught business economics. He then moved to Northern Arizona University where he was Dean of the College of Business Administration for 10 years. He retired five years ago from NAU.

Joe first took up bridge in college, but gave it up for many years. At NAU, he began to play in the College “noon time bridge game” with other faculty and then took lessons from Peter Wahl. Joe’s favorite partner is Jon Ozmun, who also was on the faculty at NAU.

Joe and his wife of 47 years, Ann, live in Flagstaff. Ann is a poet and leads backpacking trips in southern Utah for the Museum of Northern Arizona. Joe and Ann have two sons, who also live in Flagstaff. One son is paramedic with Guardian and the other has his own contracting firm, Comb Ridge Custom Builders. Joe's oldest grand-daughter is on the Flagstaff High School soccer team which recently won the state championship. He is glad to have the opportunity to live in northern Arizona with his family and have such a wide circle of bridge-playing friends.

Let’s congratulate Joe on achieving his Life Master Award.