Where Are They Now?

Lisa Tatum Walker has enjoyed a long career working in the housing business, and cultivated a rich and fulfilling life outside of work as well. As she winds down her work in preparation for retirement, she’s been enjoying the extra time for traveling, crafting, and spending time with her husband and their children and grandchildren.

Walker grew up in Dublin until she was a junior in high school. Her grandparents owned the Dublin Flower shop while she was a child, and she still has fond memories of learning to arrange flowers, and taking breaks to enjoy ice cold watermelon that they stored in the refrigerated vaults where the flowers were kept.

Walker went to the first three years of high school in Dublin, then, for family reasons, she transferred to Paschal High School in Fort Worth to graduate in 1977. After she graduated, she and her then boyfriend moved to South Padre Island for a little over a year. When they returned to Fort Worth after a year, they got married and had a daughter together.

Walker began her real estate in 1979 taking a job as a receptionist at a title company in Fort Worth. “It didn’t take me long to actually promote up to an escrow secretary, so I actually helped with putting together all the documents and so forth for folks closing on buying their home,” she said.

Her next job was on the mortgage side of the housing business. She found a position with a mortgage company — which was conveniently right across the street from her previous job — helping people close on their houses. “Once someone’s loan was approved, I would put all their information together for the title company so they could buy and close on their home,” she said.

She spent over 20 years with different companies and worked her way up the position of underwriter. “I was the one who got to say yes or no to someone’s loan to purchase a home,” she said.

In 2001 after a divorce, she switched careers slightly: getting her Professional Home Inspectors License and learning the ropes on construction business working for the City of Fort Worth. At the same time she would conduct a few home inspections each year. In 2006, she left employment in Fort Worth and began teaching home inspection courses at Champions School of Real Estate, one of the largest real estate schools in the country. She would teach the qualifying courses to help students be prepared to pass their licensing exams with the state of Texas.

“I’ve always enjoyed being able to help other people accomplish their goals, so teaching is a way for me to give back,” she said. “I want to make sure that every student that comes to one of my classes had the opportunity to get a professional license in order to have their own real estate inspection career.”

Since the start of the pandemic, Walker has taught most of her classes on Zoom, which allows her to travel and have a flexible lifestyle. She hopes to continue teaching for a few more years before completely retiring.

“My career has been very rewarding and fulfilling to me, and I have loved the evolution of where I started to where I am today,” Walker said. “I’m so grateful for everything that I’ve learned and all the people that I’ve met that have taught me and mentored me. I’ve just been very very blessed.”

Since Walker’s teaching job only takes up a couple of days each month, she has more free time for some of her other hobbies, including running a small antiques and vintage business, arranging flowers, making jewelry and crafting alongside her husband.

Walker met her husband, John Walker, online in 2009. They started dating, and soon became inseparable. They married a year after they met, in 2010. Walker and her husband each have a daughter from a previous marriage, and three sons from previous marriages. They also have 13 grandchildren, ranging in age from nine to 23.

Their family is spread across the US. “We’ve got family in Oregon, Colorado and Texas,” she said. “We love to travel so we’ll just get in our car and load everything up and go visit family for weeks at a time. We’re very blessed to be able to spend time with them.”

Throughout her life, Walker has struggled with self acceptance; growing up she always felt a bit different from other people. Over the years, though, she’s learned to love what makes her different. “That’s probably my greatest accomplishment: learning how to take care of myself in order to love and take care of the most important people in my life,” she said.

Walker’s advice to Dublin graduates is to follow their hearts. “As a young person coming out of high school, I had no idea what I wanted to do,” she said. “As I’ve grown and learned to believe in myself more, I’ve learned that I can set a goal and put myself in places that I want to be, not just where I end up accidentally.”

Editor’s Note: This column chronicles what Dublin graduates have done since high school. If you have any suggestions for other grads, email publisher@dublincitizen.com.