Clyde Eustis Walker, 75, of Huntsville, passed away peacefully at his home Wednesday. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to 12 noon Friday, August 28, at First Baptist Church, Huntsville. The funeral service will immediately follow at the church with the Rev. Mark Seanor officiating. There will be a private family graveside service.
Survivors include his wife of 53 years, Amy Self Walker; son, Jeff Walker of Huntsville; father, Clyde Walker of Opelika; sisters, Tricia Dudley of Winston-Salem, NC, Anna Rhoden of Nahunta, GA, and Genia Janey of Opelika; and brothers, Ed Walker of Opelika and Lamar Walker of Evans, GA. He was preceded in death by his son, Todd Walker.
Eustis was born in Jacksonville, FL, but grew up in Opelika, AL. He earned a B.S. degree in Aerospace Engineering form Auburn University and a M.S. degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. He began his DoD career working four years as an engineering student trainee with the US Army Missile Command. Following this, he worked five years for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Marshall Space Flight Center as an aerodynamic test engineer on the SATURN V moon rocket program. He then began his service in the Intelligence Community with the Missile intelligence Agency in 1968. From 1985-1988, he served as the Deputy Director of the US Army Intelligence and Threat Analysis Center in Washington, DC. Upon his appointment to the Defense Intelligence Senior Executive Service in October 2000, he assumed the position of Director of the Missile and Space Intelligence Center, Defense Intelligence Agency, where he served until his retirement in 2007.
Eustis received the US Army Commander’s Award for Civilian Service in 1991 for MSIC crisis center management during Operation Desert Storm. He received the Federal Women’s Program Supervisor of the Year Award in 1993. He was awarded the Secretary of Defense Medal for Meritorious Service in 2007. He was named to the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Torch Bearers Hall of Fame and honored at ceremonies at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, DC in 2013. In 2014 he was named to the Air, Space and Missile Defense Distinguished Civilian Wall of Honor at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL.
His positions of service to First Baptist Church, where he was a member for 56 years, included Chairman of Deacons, Trustee, member of Personnel Committee and Benevolence Committee, Sunday School teacher, and Stephen Minister.
Memorials may be made to First Baptist Church Missions Foundation or Music Ministry, Gideons International or Hospice Family Care.
