By Rebecca Goodman
Enquirer staff writer

Former Cincinnati Post reporter Phyllis Walker, who was most recently a human resources manager for Northern California Cancer Center in Union City, Calif., died June 23 at Stanford Medical Center. She had undergone a lung transplant in February and experienced rejection of the organ. She was 56.

Ms. Walker was born in Cincinnati in 1948 to the Rev. Love Grant and Rosie Walker. She grew up in Lincoln Heights and graduated from Lincoln Heights High School in 1966.

She received a journalism degree from Ohio University and interned as a reporter for the Enquirer. After her stint as a general assignment reporter for the Post in the 1970s, she worked as a public relations representative for the Marathon Oil Co. and for the state of Ohio.

Ms. Walker moved to California to become human resources director for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority before going to the Northern California Cancer Center.

"She had a beautiful personality," said her former neighbor, Hazel Hillard of Lincoln Heights. "She was outgoing and she loved people."

Ms. Walker loved to travel to Africa and the Caribbean. She was a collector of African art and interested in photography, music and tennis.

She was also a volunteer for the Salvation Army and a devout Christian.

"She loved life," said her brother, Love Walker Jr. of Lincoln Heights.

Survivors include her mother, Rosie Walker; two brothers, Sylvester Grant Walker of Fairfield and Love Walker Jr. of Lincoln Heights; and two sisters, Gloria Walker of Batavia and Pearl Montgomery of Fairfield.

Visitation is 9 a.m. Saturday, followed by the funeral at 10 a.m. at Tabernacle Baptist Church, 9784 Wayne Ave. in Lincoln Heights. Burial will be at Landmark Memorial Gardens in Evendale.