June 27, 2005

John Walton Killed in Plane Crash

Jon Gales of mobiletracker.net informs us that John Walton died today:

It is with great sorrow that Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., announces the death of John Walton. A Vietnam War hero, member of the Wal-Mart Board of Directors and philanthropist, Walton was killed when the ultra-light aircraft he was piloting crashed shortly after take-off from the Jackson Hole Airport in Grand Teton National Park. The crash occurred at approximately 1:20 p.m. CDT and the cause has not yet been determined. Walton, 58, was the aircraft's sole occupant.

Walton was the second son of Wal-Mart founder, Sam Walton.

May he rest in peace.

Not much else is available yet. Reuters has a snippet (so does the AP), and ABC has slightly more, while CBS has two respectable photographs. Marketwatch has the financial side of John's life.

In 2005, John was the 11th richest person in the world, according to Forbes. Here's a 2002 interview John had with Businessweek about the Walton Family's charitable giving, and another in 2000 about school choice.

Some Farkers are having fun at the dead man's expense, but others are thanking him for his military service.

The Morning News takes a look at the impact John's death will have on
WM stock ownership by the Walton family.

Posted by Kevin on June, 27 2005 at 08:59 PM

Comments & Trackbacks
julie pierce wrote:

My feelings are that I have so much more.
It is one thing to have billions of dollars to leave as a legacy and to your family. It is wonderful to have been able to do so many things that are good.
Still, even with the loss of what I at one time felt I had I am at a loss to compare what I have to what they have.

Billions of dollars, whether in cash, stocks, company holdings it’s money and money can be a comfort in a time of loss as it can be at any other time.
Still, the continuation of ignoring the people that helped to compile that money is something that makes a person wonder when money becomes the real God.

Too much time to think and is it what you use time thinking about.

The itch to go back, to start all over again only because that is the norm for you and the way it has been for a lifetime.

The feeling of guilt that can run unchecked and make an average person of any age feel that they have to do because they are categorized as a have not.

What would I use my time on if I had the money to do all of the things that I think of now, especially considering I do not have it.

Money rules the mind and the heart and although some of the most wondrous lives have been ruled by money, many others have gone beyond the need for it and even without it have done wonderful things.

How do you?

At a time when I seriously thought I was finished with new employment beginnings, at a time when life is more than paying the bills and decisions really mean something because if nothing more I need to stand for something I can truly believe in.

If I leave nothing else behind I must leave what I believe in. I feel that even if no one else can, I must write the words that I truly believe.

I could have continued to act as if the way things were, what I saw was unimportant and would have been allowed to continue to work or not work…my decision for a company that was not what it seemed to be when I came across it in 1998.

I could decide, they were right, I was wrong. Even now, I wonder and I hold inside the reasoning that allows me to justify the monetary losses that my family will endure because I bucked the system and even though it looks like my fault to see it on paper, I know and my family knows better.

I know what it may look like. I have accepted that. I also know that proving any of it without the help that could actually say, actually verify, it will always look like something it is not.

I also have the temporary thought that giving up is easier. Starting over is easier. Why?
Because there is no interest as far as the media is concerned as to why it is the way it is.
Because for some reason, yes I would love to make money doing it, yes I would love to be able to show, prove what I say is true. No one will look at any of it, even if I offer it for free.

A few of the people I made promises to understand. Few, very few of the numbers of hard working Americans actually have verified to me that I am not wrong for the way I feel.

I was very tired of the continued attempt to get the entire situation into the open while working hours posted on a wall by another who is only interested in the monetary value of their time and nothing else.

If I could lie to myself and others I could have done it. If I could lie to my family and anyone else who presented the questions that no one would answer I could have done it.

As mom instilled in me, somewhere along the way, I can only feel that I once again made the mistake of looking at the entire company as what it was in a small piece of it by comparison very small.

The illusion of clean…it looks that way but I knew better within no time at all and at that time I continued to work there, I continued to accept something that was not right with the belief that the company would somehow redeem itself.

At a time in my life when I felt fairly down due to the loss of my business and any additional amount of feeling inadequate because those with money could win by default I was looking for something that could in some way make up for it and it didn’t work.

If I had been truly concerned I would have admitted to myself and others in 1998 that they were not even then what they seemed to be. I accepted the status quo. I accepted that being a female was just that being a female and made the attempt to be one of them until the baggage that came with it became too heavy to carry.

As a woman and as one that has worked most of my life I accepted the status quo. I accepted many times in my work life that as a woman I could only achieve so much when it came to business.

It could have happened anywhere, for any company. It just happened that at that time of my life it was this company and that along with the good, there was bad.

(To be continued)
I said I would continue and so I am. The shock, the feeling of comfort that one gets when they are still here, just because with questions as to why?

John Walton, my boss for almost seven years in an indirect way. John Walton was considered a philanthropist because he could be and the sense of the word has taken on a meaning that is connected to the word money.

Still his father would out shine all of his children, money or not, philanthropy or not the man was a beacon that could continue to shine if his children would follow his lead.

I hope that now John and Sam are communicating in a way that they didn’t while on the face of this earth. Possibly Sam can explain that money is not the answer to every question and that his culture was what started the company and allowed it to grow to where it is today.

Not knowing the meaning of why I am still here and wondering why I am as opposed to a man of wealth.

Not knowing when my time will come and knowing that if there is a mention of philanthropy when I pass on it is that I would be known as a goodhearted person.

I do care. I do not have the financial power to make things better for the many, I can only make an attempt to make it better with my words that are written from the soul after many disappointments and achievements during a lifetime of instability, change and love given to me freely by so many wonderful people.

My words are all I presently have. These are the words that I will do my best to not hide but share with all who will read or listen to them for the good of all.

I can wish and I can dream and I can only make the attempt to communicate that I have never meant any harm to the beast that has stolen my heart. The beast that is destroying the work of a man who’s children did not listen when he spoke.

-- June 29, 2005 02:16 PM ∞