Texas flood: Marin County couple and teen son among the missing

By Julia Prodis Sulek

Former Giants pitcher Tyler Walker flew to Texas over the weekend with his wife and friends to search for his 51-year-old brother, Mark, his wife, Sara, and their 14-year-old son Johnny — all from Marin County — who have been missing since their vacation home along the Guadalupe River was destroyed by devastating flood waters.

“All we can do is wait and pray for a miracle at this point,” Kathy Walker, Mark and Tyler’s mother, said from the doorway of her San Rafael home Monday.

Tyler Walker, who played for the Giants from 2004 to 2008, and his wife also rushed to pick up their niece, 16-year-old Ellie, who survived flooding at Waldemar Camp, where photos captured many of the emotional campers reuniting with their families over the weekend.

Flooding on the Guadalupe River in the Hill Country of central Texas, which rose 20 feet in a matter of hours early July 4, has claimed more than 100 lives so far. The dead include 27 girls and counselors from Mystic Camp, which is separate from the Waldemar Camp. Dozens of people remain missing.

Ellie has attended the same camp every summer for years while her parents and younger brother stayed at a nearby vacation home they called “River House.” About five or six of Ellie’s closest friends from the summer camp, whom she’s known since she was 7, are with her while her uncle and his family friends are searching, Kathy Walker said.

“She does have support, but not enough — there’s never enough,” Kathy Walker said. “In a situation like that — waiting to find out if her dad and mom or brother — it’s just, it’s just dreadful.”

Kathy Walker said the family “is missing and not identified yet, so we’re waiting on that.”

She said she had been in regular contact last week with her son, Mark, while they were in Texas. But after the flash flood went through in the early morning hours, she heard nothing. Two friends of Tyler’s, plus several of Mark’s, all flew to join the search. She spoke with Tyler on Sunday.

“They’re doing what they can to look on the river,” she said. “He said there’s just so much devastation it’s impossible to comprehend. The debris piles everywhere, cars and trees and limbs — just everything is piled up.”

The vacation home was in the town of Kerr along Highway 39, about 20 feet above the river that sat near the confluence of the north and south forks of the Guadalupe.

“The water came from above, and the river was rising at the same time the water was coming from the top,” she said.

Someone sent her a photo of the remains of her son’s home.

“It’s crashed and gone,” she said.

Sara and Mark Walker “have tons of friends” from their Kentfield community in Marin County. Both of their children were heavily involved in youth sports. Mark coached the kids “in every sport since they were 6,” she said. He coached T-ball, Little League, and the “Bombers” traveling baseball team, she said.

Johnny graduated from 8th grade with plans to enroll as a freshman at Marin Catholic high school in the fall, joining his older sister.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Marin County resident, said at a Monday news conference that they knew the Walker family and that the tragedy strikes close to home — he said all four of his children are attending various summer camps.

“Mark, his wife, and his 14 year old son who was very close with so many kids, including my own son, in the Marin County area, they’re missing,” Newsom said. “Thankfully, their 16 year old daughter was found. It’s just another reminder of how devastating this tragedy is, and obviously continues to unfold in just excruciating ways. Anyone with kids understands that.”

Evan Forsberg, whose daughter played on a soccer team with Ellie, and whose son played on a Little League team coached by her uncle, Tyler Walker, the former major leaguer, said the entire community “is just really sad and praying and hopeful we get a miracle.”

A vigil at the baseball field Sunday drew upwards of 400 people. Marin Catholic plans to hold a prayer service at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Saint Sebastian Church.

A candlelight vigil for the Walkers was held Sunday at Bacich Elementary School, which Johnny and Ellie attended

Pete Johnson, a neighbor, was among the hundreds of people who attended.

“Everybody is really hurting over it. It’s such a tragic event,” Johnson said on Monday. “We’re obviously feeling for the family, especially the daughter who survived. It’s a really tough situation.”

Kathy Walker spoke with her granddaughter over the weekend.

“She’s distraught,” Walker said. “She just keeps saying, ‘we have to pray harder.’”

Marin Independent Journal Staff Writer Cameron McDonald contributed.

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