George M. Walker II ‘ 71 died on April 18, 2025, in Wells, Maine.
(The following was provided by the Bibber Memorial Chapel on April 18, 2025:)
George M. Walker II ‘ 71
Dr. George Marshall Walker II, 76 (“Joey” in childhood; “Joe” or “Doc” in later life), passed away surrounded by his family after a short illness.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, on February 21, 1949, to Cynthia (Gano) and Dr. George Walker, George grew up the oldest of four siblings in Lunenburg, Massachusetts. The Walkers spent summers at their family beach cottage built by George’s great-grandfather on Wells Beach in Maine. George and his future wife Cheryl Colello both attended Lunenburg High School, though he missed his chance to invite her to prom.
Matriculating at Bowdoin College, he was a member of Chi Psi Fraternity and graduated in 1971. George and Cheryl married on July 21, 1973, and lived in Milton, Vermont, until he graduated from University of Vermont Medical School in 1976. George completed his residency at Harvard Medical School’s Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston and served as chief surgical resident in 1982.
He and Cheryl took a chance and moved to High Point, North Carolina, where George entered practice and they welcomed twin daughters, Cynthia and Catherine. After a few years, the call of their New England roots got louder and the family re-settled in North Andover, Massachusetts, where George practiced at Andover Surgical Associates. Working primarily as a trauma and cancer surgeon, he gave back to the profession he loved as an adjunct clinical professor at Harvard Medical School (student review: “he gives surgeons a good name”), and served as chief of surgery at Lawrence General Hospital. Over his thirty-year career as a physician, he was well-known for his unique sense of style including a ubiquitous bowtie and caring bedside manner while saving countless lives.
When it came time to retire in 2005, George and Cheryl chose Wells, Maine, as their new home as it had been a long-time family destination filled with familiar faces and fond memories. With the newfound time, he enjoyed his lifelong love of skiing, playing golf, traveling with family, carpentry projects, and the family dogs. Later in life, he enjoyed skydiving as a throwback to his time as an amateur trapeze enthusiast and Club Med circus performer.
George was predeceased by: his parents, Cynthia and George; sister Pamela (Mills) and brother Seth; and dogs Floppy, Enzo, Pasta, Dino, and Rocco. He is survived by his wife of fifty-two years, Cheryl of Wells, ME; daughter Cynthia Walker, son-in-law David Armstrong, and grand-daughter Josephine of Kennebunk, ME; daughter Catherine Walker and son-in-law Sid Mishra of Pasadena, CA; sister Deborah of Fitchburg, MA; dogs Zeb and Ziva; and many extended family and friends. “But the journey doesn’t end here. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass, and then you see it. White shores, and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise.”