Garnie Walker Testa Papers and Walker-Testa Family Genealogy
Collection
Collection Number: A&M 4670
Includes the papers of Garnie Wilma Walker Testa (1914-1999) and genealogical research about the Walker-Testa family. The papers include material retained from her high school, college, and graduate school years, like graduation photographs and academic texts – all in Series 1 Subseries 1. The collection also includes documentation of her military service in the Army during World War II, featuring items like field guides for military procedures, photographs of herself and peers in uniform, and travel books acquired while serving internationally – all in Series 1 Subseries 2. There are materials from Walker Testa’s time as a teacher in Kanawha and Clay Counties, West Virginia, like certificates commemorating her work and books used in the classroom – all in Series 1 Subseries 3. A copy of Walker Testa’s historical survey of education in Clay County, The Ringing of the Bells: A Bicentennial History of Education in Clay County, West Virginia, and other items related to the book’s production are featured, including some digital material – all in Series 1 Subseries 4. Additionally, there is genealogical research material that explores her life and her family’s lineage through material like descendant charts, biographical sketches, and old family photographs – all in Series 1 Subseries 5 and the collection’s addendum of 2025.
Researchers may access digital materials by requesting to view the materials in person by appointment or remotely by contacting the West Virginia & Regional History Center reference department at https://westvirginia.libanswers.com/wvrhc.
Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.
Garnie Wilma Walker Testa (1914-1999) was a native of a West Virginia mountain farming community within the Elk River basin, near Ivydale in Clay County. She was an educator, a World War II veteran, a farmer and a local historian.
After graduating as valedictorian from Clay County High School in 1933, she earned her first teaching certificate from Glenville State Teachers College in 1934, a Bachelor of Arts from Marshall College in 1940 and a Master of Arts from West Virginia University in 1942. During these years and until 1944, she also taught grades 1 through 8, mostly in one-room, Clay County rural schools.
In 1944, while at WVU, Walker enlisted in the U.S. Women’s Army Corps. Following her military training in Iowa, she was assigned to work at the Pentagon and then, at the war’s end, was placed with the Historical Division in Germany’s American Zone. While in Weisbaden, she met Carmelo F. Testa who was serving in the U.S. Air Force, and they married in 1949. Soon after, they returned to the U.S. and Garnie Walker Testa returned to her teaching career in West Virginia. Beginning in the fall of 1950, she taught at elementary and junior high schools in Kanawha County and continued through the spring of 1958. In 1954, Walker Testa bought her family’s Laurel Run Farm from her parents. Then from 1958 through 1975, she taught grades 11 and 12 (mostly English and History) at Clay County High School and continued farming.
After retiring in 1975, Walker Testa expanded her WVU thesis research into a full-length book manuscript, doing much of the writing during the cold winters on the farm. Although she completed it ca. 1983, The Ringing of the Bells: A Bicentennial History of Education in Clay County, West Virginia was not published until 2020. Many of the items in this collection were compiled and retained by Walker Testa, but her niece, Karen Jo Walker, is responsible for organizing the collection, editing/publishing the education history volume, and compiling much of the genealogical research. Karen J. Walker, Ph.D., retired, is an archaeological and historical researcher.
9.88 Linear Feet (9 ft. 10 1/2 in. (1 document case, 5 in.; 1 document case, 2.5 in.; 7 record cartons, 15 in. each; 1 flat storage box, 5 in.; 1 oversize folder, 0.1 in.; 1 framed cirkut photograph, 1 in.))
856 Megabytes (682 assorted .tiff, .docx, .jpg, .wps, .odt, .pptx, and .pdf files)
English
West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/
Gifts from Walker, Karen Jo of 2022 October 5 and 2025 February 11.
Part of the West Virginia and Regional History Center Repository