Adam, Tessa, Bill, Donna, Lindsay, Jordan

Gov. elect-Bill Walker is nothing if not intriguing. By now, most know that he’s a lawyer from Valdez, who’s been involved in fighting for a natural gas pipeline. And now they know that he plans to unify the state. But because his time in the spotlight– between Sept. 1 when the unity ticket was announced and the general election–was so truncated, much is unknown. Walker has repeatedly said that his campaign has been a family affair, and indeed, his family seem like an extraordinarily tight-knit group who were an integral part of his campaign. The whole bunch of them, his daughters Lindsay and Tessa, and sons Adam and Jordan, and their spouses worked tirelessly for the campaign. People who weren’t much involved, however, don’t know much about the seemingly healthy and happy bunch, and enough people have asked me about them that I thought I’d get some information on them.

Here’s a brief biographical sketch of Donna and the four kids:

First Lady-elect Donna Walker is 60 years old,. She graduated from high school in Hawaii and college in California. She came to Alaska in 1976 and worked on the oil pipeline construction as the recreation director at Glennallen camp.  She met and married Bill in Valdez and they went off to law school together at the University of Puget Sound School of Law. She’s been working as a lawyer with Bill at the Walker Richards law firm and has four children.  

The whole bunch

Lindsay Walker Hobson is 33 years old. She has a law degree from Gonzaga, and has been practicing law at Walker Richards. Her husband Greg has a masters in teaching but is a stay at home dad for now. He is best known for winning a world series poker bracelet in 2012. They have two children, ages 6 and 4. They met during Lindsay’s first week of college at Southern Oregon University in the athletic dorm, where she was a soccer player and he was a star football player. They are huge Oregon Ducks fans. Lindsay has been serving as her father’s spokesperson during the campaign.

Tessa Walker Linderman, 30, has a doctorate in public health nursing from the University of Washington and is a post-doctoral fellow at the Center for Disease Control.  Her husband, Dennis, is a second-year family medicine resident in North Carolina.  They met in the Peace Corps in Turkmenistan and are parents-to-be. Tessa ran the 2011 Boston Marathon qualifying for 2012 but she chose to climb Denali instead.

Adam Walker is an Anchorage-based dentist who got his degree from the University of Colorado. He’s 29 years old. His wife Sabrina, 28, is an administrative assistant at UAA and is featured in the December issue of Runner’s World magazine, which focuses on how running has helped her cope with Cystic Fibrosis, a chronic lung disease. One of her proudest moments was running the 16 -mile Lost Lake race. They are parents-to-be and were high school sweethearts at West High where he was a hockey player and she a cross country runner.

Jordan Walker turned 26 years old on election eve. He attended college at UAA and the University of Denver. He works on the Slope as a pipeline radiographer and is a “beloved uncle to his niece and nephew.”

With such strong resumes and accomplishments, you can bet that Gov. Walker will turn to his family as kitchen cabinet advisers on a whole host of issues.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com