Paula Jean (Dabbs) Walker was born September 13, 1946, in Reedley, California, to Homer Paul Dabbs and Jessie Imogene (Allgood) Dabbs. She peacefully passed away August 23, 2025, in her home in Yukon, Oklahoma. Paula’s family moved to Stratford where she attended school and graduated in 1965. She then attended East Central State College earning her bachelor’s in English education in 1967. She moved to Okmulgee to teach. There she met and married Billie Dean Walker on June 5, 1970. In 1972 they moved to Stratford where she taught until 1986. During this time, she earned a master’s in English education (ECU), was named Garvin County Teacher of the Year, and earned her master’s in library science (OU). She was the librarian for Chandler Watts Library in Stratford, Weatherford Public Schools, Vaderott Community College and Mabel C. Fry Library in Yukon. Other careers included working at the State Department of Education and co-owning Aladdin Book Shoppe in Oklahoma City. In the ’80s and early ’90s they opened their home to foster children in Garvin County. In October, she will be recognized as one of the top 40 faces of NAMI Oklahoma. She was a faithful member of the South Yukon church of Christ since moving to Yukon in 2005. She was active in many organizations including Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, NAMI Oklahoma, OTA and Retired Teachers Association.
She was preceded in death by her parents Homer Paul Dabbs and Jessie Imogene (Allgood) Dabbs.
She is survived by her loving husband Billie Walker; her children, Kenneth Walker and wife Tina, Shelly Hudson and husband Nathan, Ben Maxwell and family, Mike Maxwell, wife Jennica and family, Ricky Maxwell and numerous foster children; her grandchildren, Twila, Timothy, Owen and Mark; her great-grandchildren Tucker, Hailey, Isabella, Addison, Blake, Harlynn, Emory, Eloise, Trace, Bryce and Landry; her siblings, Jim Dabbs and wife Brenda and Joyce McKnight and husband Gary, and her nieces and nephews, Sean, Sheri, Brock, Jessica, April, Jennifer, and Jamie.
Memorial gifts can be made to NAMI Oklahoma or Mabel C. Fry’s Friends of the Library.
Funeral services will take place on Friday, August 29, 2025, at 10 a.m. at the South Yukon Church of Christ.
Interment will follow on Tuesday, September 2, 2025, at 1 p.m. at Fort Sill National Cemetery in Elgin, Oklahoma.
Online condolences may be signed at yandafuneral.com. Arrangements are under the direction of Yanda & Son Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Yukon, OK.
