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Walter Malone

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Walter Malone

Birth
DeSoto County, Mississippi, USA
Death
18 May 1915 (aged 49)
Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, USA
Burial
Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, USA Add to Map
Plot
Evergreen section, #468 3/4
Memorial ID
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He was the youngest of a family of twelve children born to Dr. Franklin Jefferson and Mary Louise (Hardin) Malone. Walter began his writing career by the age of 14 and published many poems during his lifetime. Walter's most famous poem, "Opportunity" received attention from Theodore Roosevelt (letter to James Malone) and William Jennings Bryan (letter from his secretary, and quoting it at evolution trial in Dayton, TN). During the Watergate hearings, Senator Chr. Sam J. Ervin, Jr. requested the poem be read by Jeb Stuart Magruder for inspiration.
He attended school at Oxford, MS from 1883-1887. After his graduation, Walter was admitted to the bar at Oxford, Mississippi, and then moved to Memphis, TN to practice law in partnership with his brother James Henry Malone. In 1897 he temporarily retired from the practice of law and moved to New York, where, for the next three years, he gave himself wholly to literary work. In 1900 he returned to Memphis and published "Songs of North and South," a collection of poems that had appeared in magazines during the previous three years.
In 1905, he was appointed Judge of the Second Circuit Court of Shelby County, and later by election held the office until his death.
He always said a man wasn't much good after the age of 50, and seemed to know his own end was near. He died at age 49. Shortly before his death he wrote his own epitaph which is inscribed at Elmwood.
He was the youngest of a family of twelve children born to Dr. Franklin Jefferson and Mary Louise (Hardin) Malone. Walter began his writing career by the age of 14 and published many poems during his lifetime. Walter's most famous poem, "Opportunity" received attention from Theodore Roosevelt (letter to James Malone) and William Jennings Bryan (letter from his secretary, and quoting it at evolution trial in Dayton, TN). During the Watergate hearings, Senator Chr. Sam J. Ervin, Jr. requested the poem be read by Jeb Stuart Magruder for inspiration.
He attended school at Oxford, MS from 1883-1887. After his graduation, Walter was admitted to the bar at Oxford, Mississippi, and then moved to Memphis, TN to practice law in partnership with his brother James Henry Malone. In 1897 he temporarily retired from the practice of law and moved to New York, where, for the next three years, he gave himself wholly to literary work. In 1900 he returned to Memphis and published "Songs of North and South," a collection of poems that had appeared in magazines during the previous three years.
In 1905, he was appointed Judge of the Second Circuit Court of Shelby County, and later by election held the office until his death.
He always said a man wasn't much good after the age of 50, and seemed to know his own end was near. He died at age 49. Shortly before his death he wrote his own epitaph which is inscribed at Elmwood.

Inscription

Stranger who passeth my lone house of clay,
Pause for a moment in a gentle mood;
Think not your sigh of pity thrown away
For I would say God Bless You if I could.

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