Jonathan Taylor Walton

1930 - 2019

Jonathan Taylor Walton

St. Clair Shores - Jonathan Taylor Walton, a Grosse Pointe resident for virtually all of his life, died peacefully on Saturday, March 16, 2019. His wife Sis and his four children were by his side when he passed. Jon was born March 28, 1930, in Evanston, Illinois, to Howard and Louise Walton. The family moved to Michigan when he was a young boy, first to the Whittier on Jefferson Avenue in Detroit, and shortly afterwards to Grosse Pointe. He was a proud graduate of the Grosse Pointe Public Schools, and was a member of the Grosse Pointe High School Class of 1948. Jon followed his older brother, Howard, to Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. He received a bachelor's degree in economics from Dartmouth in 1952. He then enrolled in Dartmouth's Amos Tuck School of Business Administration and graduated with a Master's in Business Administration in 1953. Jon met the love of his life, Salome Edgeworth, known as "Sis" to her family and friends, while he was at Dartmouth and she was attending Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. They were married in Sis's hometown of Dover, Delaware, on November 27, 1954. At that time, Jon was serving in the United States Navy. He enlisted in the Navy's Officer Candidate Program, and after basic training in Newport, Rhode Island, he completed the Navy's Supply School in Bayonne, New Jersey. During three years of active duty in the Pacific, Jon served as the supply officer of the U.S.S. Andrew Jackson and the U.S.S. Gardiner's Bay. He left active duty in the Navy in 1956 and continued serving his country in the Naval Reserve until 1968. In 1956, Jon began what would become a nearly 40-year career working for the National Bank of Detroit. The first part of his NBD tenure was spent in the bank's commercial lending operations. He rose to become the head of NBD's United States Division in 1972. He then pivoted to the Bank's Trust operations, and became the head of the Trust Division in 1978. At the time of his retirement from the Bank in 1995, Jon was executive vice president and a member of the Managing Committee. Throughout his life Jon worked passionately and tirelessly for causes ranging from education, to health care, to the promotion and revitalization of Detroit. He served as a Trustee of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation (1980-2004), the Michigan Historical Center Foundation and the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy. He also chaired the United Negro College Fund, and served on the boards of the Franklin Wright Settlement, the YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit and the Greater Detroit Hospital Council. At the time of his passing he was a member of the Investment Committee of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan. He and Sis were dedicated supporters of the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Detroit Zoological Society, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and many other cultural groups and institutions. Jon had a lifelong love of learning. The study of history was his special interest. The shelves of every home he and Sis ever owned overflowed with history books and, later in his life, with his vast collection of antique model soldiers from every era and place on Earth. He was an avid golfer at the Country Club of Detroit. Jon's other club affiliations included the Grosse Pointe Club, the Yondotega Club, the Mill Reef Club and the Dartmouth Club of Detroit. Sports of all kinds and the outdoors were a big part of his life. He loved fishing, and made many memorable treks to fish the lakes of northern Ontario with family and friends. He was a lifelong fan of the Detroit Tigers, Lions, Red Wings and Pistons, as well as the teams of his alma mater Dartmouth College. A careful study of the sports pages was an invariable part of his morning routine. He had an even greater interest in the athletic endeavors of his children and especially his grandchildren. No away game was too far to travel, and no weather too cold, wet, or windy to keep him out of the stands when one of them had a game or a meet. Jon was a world traveler. With Sis, he visited virtually every continent and all parts of the United States. Their children and grandchildren often came along, and routinely had all they could handle trying to keep up with the "Big Guy." In October 2018 he and Sis made a memorable voyage across the Atlantic on the S.S. Queen Mary II and spent four days in London meeting with old friends. He maintained a far-flung network of friends by being a faithful correspondent. Jon is survived by his wife of 64 years, Salome Edgeworth Walton, son Jonathan T. Walton Jr. (Susan), daughter Katherine Walton Day (Warren), daughter Lucy Walton Mooney (James), son Andrew Walton (Kathryn), 11 grandchildren, and a great grandson. He was predeceased by his parents, his brothers, Howard Walton and David Walton, and his sister, Dorothy Walton Mooney. There will be a family visitation at Chas. Verheyden, Inc., 16300 Mack Avenue in Grosse Pointe Park on Friday, March 22, 2019 from 3p.m. to 8 p.m. A funeral service will be held on Saturday, March 23, 2019 at 10:30 a.m. at Christ Church Grosse Pointe, 61 Grosse Pointe Boulevard, Grosse Pointe Farms. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be directed to Detroit Riverfront Conservancy (detroitriverfront.org), Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan (cfsem.org) or Ascension St. John Foundation (stjohnprovfoundations.org). Share a memory at: www.verheyden.org