Walker addresses Prayer Breakfast

Pictured: Members of the Eastern Shore Boys & Girls Club are pictured with U.S. District Court Judge Jamar Walker, a 2004 graduate of Nandua High School.The club members were accompanied by Executive Director Kathy Custis and Counselor Damanti Baines. 

By Bill Sterling

Speaking to an audience of about 90, including members of the Eastern Shore Christian Businessmen’s Association (ESCBA) and their guests at the Exmore Moose Lodge last Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Jamar Walker said a strong faith nurtured by his mother provided him with discipline, integrity, and humility and propelled him on a path to success that he would not otherwise have reached.

Judge Walker’s remarks came at the annual Prayer Breakfast sponsored by the ESCBA, a gathering that includes elected officials, law enforcement officers, first responders, pastors, and judges. The purpose of the event is to promote unity among leaders of the community and to emphasize the highest ethical standards in all business, professional, and personal dealings.

President Rhudy Naylor recognized the invited guests in attendance while Ginny McMath provided vocal entertainment. ESCBA founder George McMath also was recognized for his 37 years of service to the organization he started with a group of more than 100 men in 1989.

Judge Walker also paid homage to “the late, great Carla Savage Wells,” a former Nandua High School teacher who also coached forensics at the school.

“For those of you who didn’t know her, I feel sorry that you were not fortunate enough to be blessed by her presence,” he said. “And especially for those young people in this room but also throughout Accomack County, it makes me sad that she is no longer around to nurture and mold young students like she did for me. Mrs. Wells was a force of nature,” said Walker, who keeps a photo of her in his chambers in Norfolk, enabling him to tell his law clerks about her.

Walker, a 2004 graduate of Nandua High School, was president of his class all four years, president of the BETA Club, state runner-up and captain of the school’s forensic team, and a member of the baseball team. He also won the Eastern Shore News Leadership Award given to one senior annually on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

Walker was also the scorekeeper for basketball teams coached by Dennis Custis, a former Nandua High School principal and teacher, who introduced him, and a state championship basketball team coached by Buck Boggs. He cited both former educators in his remarks.

Judge Walker received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law. At U.Va, he was a key member of the university’s Mock Trial team that defeated Harvard to win the national championship in 2006 and then won a second national title in 2007.

Walker’s mother, Brenda Walker, was the school secretary when Nandua High School opened in 1984 and remained in that position for more than 30 years. Walker recalled he resisted going to church as a youth. “I could not stand having to get up and trek to church when I’d much rather be playing video games, or be outside throwing a baseball or football, but my mother had a plan for me — one that was rooted in the discipline, the routine of showing up and being present at church.”

Walker said it was discipline, not intelligence nor any other attribute, that saw him through an outstanding legal career and his subsequent appointment  in 2023 as a U.S. District Court judge at the relatively young age of 36. During his time as a prosecutor, Walker received five FBI Service Awards fighting public corruption, wire fraud, and bank fraud cases.

“Going to church wasn’t optional for me; it was required,” he recalled. “And it was required because my mom knew, better than I could know for myself, that I needed the life lessons that faith and church would teach me,”said Walker, who grew up in Gaskins Chapel AME Church in Savageville.

In regard to integrity, Walker said, “There are lots of parallels between faith and integrity. Faith, like integrity, is not situational. It is not something we turn on when it is convenient or visible. And, in fact, faith, like integrity, is also not visible because sometimes the real tests come of both your faith and your integrity when no one is watching.

“As a Christian, I was taught that integrity is rooted in truth — God’s truth. Scripture calls us to be honest in all things, to act justly, and to walk humbly. Those teachings stayed with me long before I ever stepped into a courtroom, and they continue to guide me every time I take the bench.”

Judge Walker said he feels the weight of determining people’s fate from the bench. “Humility reminds me, and I have said on the bench repeatedly, that no one person is defined solely by a single action or circumstance,” adding, “In the end, I believe humility is essential to justice. Because without it, authority can become arrogance, and judgment can lose its fairness. But with it, we are better equipped to seek truth, to uphold dignity, and to carry out our responsibilities with both firmness and compassion.”

Judge Walker reserved his final remarks for a group of youth from the Eastern Shore Boys & Girls Club seated a few feet from him. Looking at them reminded him of his younger self, he recalled, when others saw something in him he did not see in himself. “Don’t let anyone tell you being from the Eastern Shore means you can’t succeed,” he told them.” Don’t let anyone tell you being from the Eastern Shore means you can’t win. It means the opposite. The attention and love and affection that I got from this place is the sole reason why I am standing here today. Take advantage of that. Take advantage of your opportunities. Find mentors, find people who will have your back and don’t let anyone dim your light.”