Walter Garfield Madison, Jr., was born in Ames, Iowa, on 3 November 1918, the first-born son of parents Walter Garfield Madison (ISC class of 1914), the first licensed Black plumber in the state, and his wife, Gussie Irene Askew Madison. Walter, Jr., graduated from Ames High School in 1936 and enrolled in the Engineering program at Iowa State College. During his time at ISC, he was a member of the Iowa State Players.
He lived at home with his family at 1204 Third Street. His parents housed many Black ISC students there until they moved to live year round in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1942. When he registered for the draft in 1940, Walter, Jr., was listed as self-employed by the W. G. Madison Company of Nashville, Tennessee, where he married Anita Smith. He died 22 August 1985, in Washington, D.C., after a career as an mechanical engineer.
Sources
Photo Credit: Iowa State University. (1938). The Bomb 1938. p. 118. Retrieved from https://digitalcollections.lib.iastate.edu/islandora/object/isu:TheBomb_36547#page/192/mode/2up
