United Methodist Church bishop Aubrey Grey Walton was born on June 20, 1901 in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas in 1928. He then earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Duke University in 1931. Walton received honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees from Hendrix College (1946) and Duke University (1962). He also accepted honorary Doctor of Law degrees from Centenary College (1963) and Southern Methodist University (1965).
Walton was admitted to the North Arkansas Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South in 1931. He was ordained Deacon in 1933 and Elder in 1935. For 16 years (1944-1960), he was pastor at First Methodist Church in Little Rock, Arkansas. He was consecrated Bishop of the Louisiana Area on June 26, 1960 and moved to New Orleans.
Bishop Walton was actively engaged with the global Methodist community as a member of the World Methodist Council and through his fundraising for international Methodist missions. Walton represented the Council of Bishops as the Official Visitor to Latin America from 1960 to 1968. He served as president of the Television, Radio, and Film Commission of the United Methodist Church from 1964 until his retirement in 1972. Additionally, he oversaw the merger of the racially divided separate Methodist conferences in Louisiana, Conference A and Conference B, in 1971.
Walton married Mildred Henry on September 17, 1930. The couple had two children, Mildred Ziegler and James M. Walton. Bishop Walton died in April 1978 in Little Rock, Arkansas. Mildred Henry Walton died on December 23, 1999 in Little Rock, Arkansas at the age of 95.
Sources:
Harmon, Nolan B., Ed.
Biographical sketches folder, Aubrey G. Walton papers, Bridwell Library, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University.
Correspondence, reports, brochures, printed material, photographs, and scrapbooks comprise the Aubrey G. Walton papers. This collection is arranged in four series: General Episcopacy Files, Correspondence, International Methodism, and Scrapbooks. All legal size and oversize items have been stored separately, as indicated by their box and file location.
The collection is organized into four series:
United Methodist Church Archives - GCAH, Madison, New Jersey
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[Identification of item], Aubrey G. Walton papers, Bridwell Library, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University.
Gift of James Walton-Myers, son of Aubrey Walton, in 1998.
This collection was arranged and described in 2011 by Elizabeth Lanier.
Ada Negraru, 2011.
This series consists of correspondence, reports, publications, printed material, and photographs primarily related to Walton’s work as bishop of the Louisiana area.
This series consists of both incoming and outgoing professional correspondence.
This series primarily consists of correspondence, but also includes reports and printed material related to missionary work, overseas travel, and fundraising activities for the following locales.
This series is comprised of seven scrapbooks that contain newspaper clippings, church programs, pamphlets, brochures, and photographs documenting Walton’s career as Bishop of the Louisiana Area. All loose material within the scrapbooks has been removed and stored separately in folders. Some material has been removed from envelopes inside scrapbooks and placed in folders.