Holly MatkinYoungstown, OH – Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) Deputy William “Bubba” Walker succumbed to cancer on Easter Sunday.
Deputy Walker, 65, had been battling both bone and prostate cancer, his longtime friend and colleague, retired MCSO Deputy Cortland Casey told The Vindicator.
He remained on active duty until the time of his death, but had been out of the office on sick leave since October of 2018, Mahoning County Sheriff Jerry Greene said.
Deputy Casey said that he and Deputy Walker had been nearly inseparable since they were in junior high school.
“His kids call me ‘uncle,’ my kids call him ‘uncle,’” the retired deputy explained. “He was a part of my family. That’s why I say he was my brother.”
The duo worked together on the street and in the jail facility, and even spent a lot of their off-time together.
“He was a well-likable guy. … There were hardly even inmates that would say anything bad about William. He was just an easy-going, good personality, good person,” Deputy Casey said. “I don’t think William had an enemy as long as I knew him.”
Deputy Walker was a 35-year-veteran of the MCSO, the department said in a Facebook post.
“He’s worked everywhere from the jail to patrol,” Sheriff Greene told The Vindicator. “Bill Walker has just been one of those guys that’s been around certainly much longer than I have… He is going to be very, very sadly missed around here.”
Deputy Walker was assigned to the agency’s Environmental Crimes Unit at the time of his death, according to the MCSO’s post.
He was also a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, who served “multiple tours in the Vietnam War,” the department noted.
“Please join us in extending our thoughts and prayers to his family as well as his Law Enforcement family,” the post read. “He will be sadly missed.”
Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office Deputy William “Bubba” Walker, both blood and blue. Thank you for your service.
Rest easy, hero. We’ll hold the line from here.