Dr. Barbara A. Walks, 69, of Spearfish, SD died October 17, 2007 after bravely battling long-term illness.

Visitation will be from 10:00AM until 1:00PM on Monday, October 22, 2007 at Saint Joseph's Catholic Church in Spearfish, with funeral services beginning at 1:00PM, with Father Godfrey Muwanga as Celbrant and burial following at Rose Hill Cemetery in Spearfish.

Barbara was born in Wilkes-Barre, PA to Luke Poris and Mary Belanchick. Barbara received her BS degree from Wilkes College (PA) in 1965. She married Thomas Gutkowski, Wilkes-Barre, in 1957 who died at the age of 30 in 1966. She taught in the Wilkes-Barre Area School system until 1975, when she moved to South Dakota as a volunteer teacher at the Holy Rosary Mission/Red Cloud Indian School. She also taught Reading and English at Oglala Community High School (now Pine Ridge High School) and Rockyford middle school.

While in South Dakota Barbara earned her Masters degree at Chadron State College and Doctorate of Education at the Univerisity of South Dakota. Barbara married William Walks, Oglala, SD, in 1978 and owned and operated a small ranch in Oglala for a number of years while continuing to teach High School. She was an avid gardener who could make anything grow and flourish. She was also a long-time fan of baseball and boxing.

Barbara was preceded in death by her mother Mary and Father Luke, her sister, Norma Dunay of Bloomfield, NJ. She is survived by her son Thomas Gutkowski, Jr, daughter-in law Shilo Gutkowski, granddaughter Sophia, all of Rapid City, SD and her daughter Norma Walks, M.D. of Tucson, AZ.