This grey granite slab marker with picture a ship's wheel and an insert of a towboat is located on the south side of the Maple Hill Cemetery.
Text of Headstone:
James E. Walden
Oct. 8, 1919
Nov. 24, 1997
From Helena Marine Service Website - (
visit link) :
"James E. Walden (1919-1997) was a river-industry leader, innovator and pioneer towboat operator on the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System in the early 1970s. He was born in Memphis, TN, and graduated from Messick High School. After working various jobs in the Memphis area, Walden in the mid-1940s signed on with Pure Oil Co., and began working on one of their towboats. As a result of this experience he a change needed to be made in the towboat business on the river.
He came up with a new idea - mid-stream refueling and supplying, or taking provisions to boats out on the river, instead of them having to lose time by putting into a dock for provisions and fuel. He established Waterways Oil Co. in 1952 at Memphis with one small boat and a lot of salesmanship on Walden's part. "We sold 350,000 gallons of diesel fuel in the first month, I was surprised," Walden recalled. So innovative was his mid-stream supply concept that "Popular Science" magazine did a story about it in the 1950s.
Walden sold that business and eventually moved down the river to Helena where he established Helena Marine Service Inc. From there, his boats operated on both the Mississippi and the newly-opened McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System. Walden established a fuel and harbor service on the upper end at Muskogee, Okla., and a fleeting area for barges on the lower end around Pendleton.
Jim Walden was an active member of the National Waterways Conference, the American Waterways Operators and various Propeller Clubs. Also in Arkansas, he was a founder and first director of the National River Academy, located for a while south of Helena in an area near Phillips County's slack water harbor, a project that Walden also championed. Walden was a Charter member of the Arkansas Waterways Commission, serving for 29 years, including three terms as chairman, before stepping aside in 1996.
On Sept. 18, 1997, the National Rivers Hall of Fame in Dubuque, Iowa, presented its Achievement Award to Walden. The presentation was made at the National Waterways Conference meeting in Houston, with Jane Russell, Walden's longtime business associate, accepting on behalf of Walden, who was unable to attend.
At the time of his death, two former executive directors of the Arkansas Waterways Commission reflected on the veteran river man who left his wake on the navigable waterways of Arkansas. "Walden was able to convince people to do something that was good for the industry," said Paul Revis of Conway. "He could be crusty in his comments but was always generous once you met him." Walden was "very outspoken," said Jim Phillips of Fordyce. "The waterways of the nation have lost a tremendous supporter." The remarks of Revis and Phillips were contained in an obituary for Walden published in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazetter.
From the Arkansas River Hall of Fame
Other accolades:
National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium-Achievement Award Recipient
Rafting on the Mississippi River, Part 3 - Helena, Arkasnas to New Orleans
Steamboats.org"