Obituary
Delores Cortez Walker passed away on September 10, 2026, in her hometown of Blacksburg, Virginia. The eldest of five siblings, she was born on May 7, 1948, to Beatrice Freeman Walker and William L Walker. Delores’s roots in the New River Valley ran deep, as she came from a family that has been in Blacksburg and the New River Valley for generations. She graduated valedictorian from the historic Christiansburg Institute (C.I.) in 1966, as part of the last graduating class. As a student, she was a class officer and cheerleader and was inducted to the Order of the Eastern Star. Growing up, Delores often told stories of cooking for local fraternity houses, or volunteering with community organizations like Head Start.
Following high school, Delores attended Norfolk State University where she became a member of the National Society of Pershing Angels and earned a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts. She held many professional roles in her life, including Analyst with the Norfolk City Police Department, employee with Norfolk's Model Cities Program, Teacher's Aide in Hickory, North Carolina and group home counselor, also in Hickory. While living in Blacksburg, she managed and grew the YMCA free university program, was a baker at Our Daily Bread, and was a long-term employee with AT&T. She was also a proud and active volunteer with the Christiansburg Institute Alumni Association, and 4-H.
Along with her dry wit and irreverent sense of humor, Delores was known as an outstanding cook, baker, and plant mom. Based on a staunch belief that everyone is equal, she was also a fierce advocate, activist, and volunteer for civil rights in all its forms. Delores instilled a lifelong love of learning, pride in family and Black history, and most of all, she was a loving, supportive, and giving mother to her only daughter Latanya.
She is survived by her daughter, Latanya Walker, her brother, Leo D. Walker, and her half-sister, Michelle Walker, along with several cousins, nieces and nephews, and friends.
No service is currently scheduled. Rather, her family asks that pictures, videos, and stories be shared here. Feel free to share in any format that works for you. What are your favorite things about Delores? What would you like her family to know? What makes you laugh when you think of her? Did she support you through something? Do you have pictures you would like to add to the photo collage that will be created?
Please help preserve her memory by sharing yours.
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Delores was the kind of woman who made me feel supremely safe and protected when I was with her. However, I was also cautious not to get too far out of line because she was the quintessential 1970’s Black mama. A perfect balance of care and correction. Delores is a part of my earliest memories. Her daughter Latanya was my childhood best friend.
I spent countless days in Delores’ home. I loved my time there. Because of Latanya, yes, but also because of Delores. She was an outstanding cook. She introduced me to delicious foods and flavors I hadn’t experienced. I was a kid, so it was nothing particularly fancy, but new— like carrot cake and fried clams with homemade tartar sauce. Delores made the best homemade tartar sauce. She also introduced me to health foods and natural remedies like carrot juice, honey-sweetened candies and aloe vera. My first trips to health food stores were with Delores. She knew about things other people in my life didn’t. I remember thinking Delores was the smartest woman in the world when she knew to put stale cookies briefly in the oven to return them to their former crispy, “fresh” forms.
Delores’ house was comfortable and alluring at the same time. It had a vibe. Her place was cool and kind of mysterious. What contributed to the home’s mystique and beauty were her house plants— Delores’ gorgeous collection of houseplants that she and Latanya so meticulously cared for.
It was what Delores did that made my childhood more interesting. And as I reflect on it, it was who she was that impacted my concept of what it is to be a Black woman. There were no formal, verbal lessons that I can recall about Black Pride, and not accepting systemic or personal injustices, and the importance of fighting for our rightful place in the world. However, as I matured, I grew to recognize the importance of all those things, in part because of the way Delores lived, moved, spoke and embodied those mindsets. I haven’t interacted with Delores for decades, but I’m grateful for the indelible imprint of strength, tenacity, Blackness, and feminism she made on me as a little girl.
The real measure of someone’s legacy is not just in what they did, but if what they did mattered. Not just their accomplishments, but their impact. Those of us who knew Delores are better because of her. She was and is loved. And as long as we remember her, she is still with us. Only now she’s RESTING IN POWER.
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Together, let us continue the legacy of compassion and kindness that Delores embodied throughout their life.
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