McMinnville resident and Van Buren County native Leota Rose Hillis Walker, 86, was born Sept. 3, 1928 and died June 27 at River Park Hospital following an extended illness. Retired from Genesco, a member of Laurel Creek Baptist Church, a charter member of the VFW Ladies Auxilliary and Daughters of the Confederacy, she was the daughter of the late Rosswell Isaac and Nettie Ethel Kell Hillis. She was married on Sept. 19, 1946 to James Alton Walker, who preceded her in death on May 7, 1992.