During Alumni Weekend this year, Germantown Friends School has the distinct honor of presenting the Susan Quillen West ’49 and David A. West ’49 Alumni Award to Josephine (Jo) Walker ’55. The award was established by the Wests’ children in 1999, and is presented each year to a GFS alum who has demonstrated extraordinary dedication and service to the school. 

The 2025 West Alumni Award will be presented to Jo on Saturday, May 17, at 10:30 a.m. in the Meetinghouse, followed by Meeting for Worship.

Jo attended GFS from first through twelfth grade, with the exception of a gap during second grade while she was hospitalized with polio. The effects left her handicapped, which had physical and emotional repercussions throughout her life. GFS, though, was a place where she felt a sense of safety and belonging. Indeed, GFS “saved my life,” she said. Jo has a vivid memory from fourth grade of a strong, kind senior boy who was assigned to carry her down two flights of stairs during fire drills. 

Jo made many friends and was involved in school activities: Choir and Choir Council, Student Council, Advisory Council, and Nominating Committee. She was the manager and scorekeeper for three varsity teams, and, during her senior year, was presented with an honorary GFS athletics award at an Upper School assembly, to huge applause.

“An awakening had taken place in my ten years at the Friends school, with its Biblical motto, ’Behold I have set before thee an open door.’ How appropriate for a handicapped child and teenager," Jo said. "The faculty and my friends let me find my own way. And by discovering much that I could do and very little I couldn’t, I flourished.”

After graduating from Wellesley College, Jo worked in college counseling, vocational counseling, and education administration, including as Head of Lower School at Episcopal Academy. Post-retirement, she became an advocate in the adult polio community, dedicated much time to working with women in halfway programs, and was active in her church ministries.

Over the years, Jo has given back to GFS monetarily and with the gift of her time. She has kept her class connected for decades through her volunteer work as class agent and reunion organizer. Now, she is helping to organize the Class of 1955’s 70th reunion, to be held at Foulkeways at Gwynedd, a Quaker-run retirement community where the GFS Choir sings yearly, and where she, along with other members of the Class of '55, now reside.