Some final thoughts on the passing of Mayor Walaker.

When most think of Denny Walaker they think of one word. FLOODS. As I watched the funeral service for Mayor Denny Walaker this past Sunday, something struck me during the remarks made by City Engineer Mark Bittner. Some years ago the Mayor knocked on his door telling him to let him in. Walaker had just gotten the word of Mark’s Parkinson’s diagnoses and wanted to show his deepest concern for him. If I caught the words correctly, Walaker hired Bittner back in 1974 and they were steadfast friends for 40 years. When one of the office staff had a baby, Denny was one of the first to congratulate the parents of the newborn. Besides the flood coverage I participated in at KFGO, there were several other moments I recall running into the Mayor, outside of his city office. This past June I met the Mayor over at Davies High School as he was part of welcoming the North Dakota State Special Olympics Track and Field plus Volleyball competition to Fargo for their games. I remember him asking me if I was covering the games for the radio and I told him, “a couple of call-in reports, but I’m mainly here to watch my son.” As the athletes left the gymnasium for the wet outdoor competition I introduced the Mayor to my son. I told him he’d be throwing the softball and running the 50 yard dash. After a handshake and a wish of good luck from the Mayor, my son left for the football stadium and then the Mayor and I talked for a few minutes about how special all children (and grandchildren) are in our lives. Even back in June I could tell Mayor Walaker had lost a lot of weight, and I told him at the time I was trying as well. We just left it there, and mentioned it was a terrible day, weather wise, for such an important day in these special athlete’s lives.

Another fond memory that will stick in the back of my head was the “48 Hour Film Project”. For a few years this event was held in Fargo. Avid filmmakers are given a character name, an occupation for him or her, a line of dialogue, and a prop. All of these items had to be included in the film and the movie could be no longer than eight minutes from opening to ending credits. Plus it all had to be done in 48 hours to be shown on the big screen at the Fargo Theater. Films were judged and the winner advanced to national competition.

I had some of the cast members for a number of films on my radio a couple of years back and found it interesting that in almost every film that year there was a reference made about the Mayor of Fargo. One film he was corrupt and one he was poisoned with some bad cheese, if I remember right. But I asked these filmmakers if they could tell me why they were picking on the Mayor in these films. No one had an answer except that Mayor Walaker was at the initial meeting on the roof at the HoDo announcing the items that had to be in the film. Just the fact that he was there stuck in these filmmakers minds and that could be the reason they included a Fargo Mayor character in their film.

The next year Denny was back on the roof of the HoDo and I along with my producer Scott Sorum were going to be cast in one of the films. When the Mayor got up to announce the required items in the upcoming films he gave out the name of a character, the occupation, the line of dialogue, and the prop to be used. The prop that year was bubble wrap. As Mayor Walaker read those two words he put on one of his patented Denny Walaker smiles as if to say to us “I can’t wait to see this!” And he wished us all good luck.

….you were much more to this city then just the flood fights.