Born August 20, 1911, in Union, South Carolina, the son of John Frost Walker, Jr., and Cornella Greer Walker. After attending the public schools of Union he entered the University of South Carolina and received his academic degree in 1933, and his law degree in 1935.
After graduation from Law School he practiced in Union. While he was a student at the University the people of Union County elected him in 1932 as their Representative in the South Carolina Legislature. This was a signal honor. He was elected before he was able to vote. He was subsequently elected in 1934 and 1936. As a student at the University Frost took an active part in college activities. He was a member of Pi Kappa Alpha social fraternity, ODK, the Clariosophic Literary Society, and other clubs and societies. All this — in addition to service the people of his county in the State Legislature.
In the Spring of 1938 he was called upon to join the campaign for re-election of Senator Ellison D. “Cotton Ed” Smith, and became one of “Cotton Ed’s” campaign managers. It was a successful campaign and Cotton Ed was re-elected in the first balloting over Edgar Brown and Olin D. Johnson, who was the Governor of South Carolina. After the election Frost moved to Greenville and began a practice of law with his brother, Wesley M. Walker, under the firm name of Walker & Walker, and continued to practice there until he accepted a legal position in the Office of Chief Counsel to the Department of Internal Revenue. Here he served until he retired in 1968, and he constantly rose in rank in the Department until he became the chief trial lawyer for the Department. The only interruption in his tenure of service was when he joined the Navy and served his country as a Lieutenant Commander in World War II. While working for the IRS, Frost continued his education and obtained an MBA degree from Boston College and an LL.M. degree from George Washington University. He was elected a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, a rare distinction for a government attorney.
At his retirement from thirty years of service as a trial lawyer he was told “you have won more cases for the Department than any person in its history. Your success record is truly phenomenal and is a tribute to your outstanding trial ability.”
After retirement he came back home to South Carolina where he accepted a Professorship at Presbyterian College. He took an active part in community affairs and the people of Clinton elected him as Mayor. He also served as Chief Tax Counsel for the law firm of Leatherwood, Walker, Todd & Mann, in Greenville. Frost was a member of the American Bar Association, South Carolina Bar, Massachusetts Bar Association, New York and Virginia Bar Associations.
He was married to Pauline “Polly” Guerry of South Carolina, and they had one son who practices law in Florida — a fourth generation practitioner of our profession. He is also survived by grandchildren.
Frost Walker lived a life of usefulness to his state, his nation and to the communities he served. He was an honored member of our profession for 54 years. He was also a legislator, an officer in the U.S. Navy in wartime, a public servant, a Mayor, a college professor, a devoted family man and a dedicated scholar.