Lasting impact: Levar Johnson, Max & Elizabeth Walker receive Osolo honors
The leaders of two families with lasting and cherished impacts on the Elkhart community have been honored at Elkhart Public Library’s Osolo Branch.
Library leaders dedicated community meeting rooms in honor of Levar Johnson and Max and Elizabeth Walker during an October open house at the Bristol Street location.
As the four neighborhood branches were renovated in 2020-22, meeting rooms were created to meet community needs. The EPL Board of Trustees and staff sought nominations for legendary Elkhart individuals to be recognized and remembered.
Johnson and the Walkers join other memorable individuals previously honored:
• Cleveland Branch – educator Janice Dean and innovator Dr. Franklin Miles;
• Dunlap Branch – scientists Al and Helen Free and newspaper editor Jeff Gillaspy; and
• Pierre Moran Branch – artist Kelby Love and public servant Ben Barnes Sr.
Levar Johnson has been an exceptional motivator, inspiring those around him to reach high and dream big.
Working most of his career for Elkhart Community Schools as a teacher and administrator, Johnson excelled equally in communicating with students and keeping colleagues accountable.
Every day, his personal high standards set the bar for his schools and his community. He ran numerous oversight projects, including the schools’ No Child Left Behind programs in the early 2000s.
Johnson’s work extended to various community boards, as well, including 16 years of service to Elkhart Public Library as a board trustee. He retired in 2017 but has continued to mentor learners of all ages.
Max and Elizabeth Walker made sure people had places to learn and enjoy nature. From 1985-87, the Walkers donated 20 acres along Bristol Street for what became the Osolo Branch library and Walker Park.
People knew Max Sr. as “the furnace man” because of the heating business he started in the 1930s. He was a Mason and the president of the local Rotary Club, and eventually became a banker and rose to chairman of the board of First Old State Bank.
Elizabeth was an educator and writer. She authored the history of her family’s West Virginia home and sponsored many landscaping projects, bringing to others her love of the outdoors in public gardens and spaces.
Both graduated from DePauw University in 1935, and they had as much affection for their college as their city. Max served on the Board of Trustees from 1963-71, and the arboretum with greenhouses on campus in Greencastle was dedicated in their honor.