Father James Bernard Walker died peacefully in Oak Park Hospital in Oak Park, Illinois, on July 5, 1984, after several years of declining health. Following funeral services at St. Dominic-St. Thomas Priory in River Forest, Illinois, he was buried in the Dominican plot in All Saints Cemetery, Des Plaines, Illinois, on July 7.

James Edward Walker was born on March 18, 1896, in Somerset, Ohio. He completed his primary and three years of secondary education at Holy Trinity School in Somerset, Ohio. From June 1918, to July 1919, he served as an Army field clerk stationed at the Port of Embarkation in Hoboken, New Jersey. After his honorable discharge from the Army, he completed his secondary education at Aquinas High School in Columbus, Ohio, and then studied at St. Charles College in Catonsville, Maryland, from 1921 to 1922.

He entered the Dominican Order on August 24, 1922, at St. Joseph's Priory in Somerset, Ohio, and was given Bernard as his religious name. His ordination to the priesthood took place on June 17, 1929, in the Crypt of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. After ordination he was sent for graduate studies in history at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland and at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., where he was awarded the doctorate in 1933.

Upon completion of his graduate studies, Father Walker was appointed Assistant Archivist of the Province of St, Joseph and in 1934, Co-Archivist. From 1932 to 1937, he was also the Librarian at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. In 1937, he was elected Prior there, and after completing his term in 1940, served as chaplain and professor of ethics and psychology at Barry College in Miami, Florida, during the following academic year.

Having joined the "new" Province of St. Albert the Great in 1939, his next assignment was to the Dominican House of Studies in River Forest, Illinois. He was appointed Provincial Archivist for the Province of St. Albert the Great in September 1941, a position which he held until a short time before his death. From 1941 to 1943, he served as Provincial Secretary and from 1943 to 1956 as Master of Students. During this time, he also taught courses in Church history, liturgy, and methodology at the Dominican House of Studies in River Forest.

In 1956, Father Walker was assigned as Chaplain to the Dominican Motherhouse in Sinsinawa, Wisconsin, where he also taught religion at St. Clara Academy and courses in Church history and ecclesiastical bibliography at Aquinas Institute in Dubuque, Iowa, as well as methodology at Mount St. Bernard Seminary in Dubuque.

During his assignment at Sinsinawa, the Postulator General asked Father Walker to study the relations of Samuel Mazzuchelli with the Province of St. Joseph, Before those studies were completed, the Diocesan Historical Commission for the Cause of Mazzuchelli was established (in the centenary year of his death, 1964) and Father Walker was appointed chairman. Following the submission of the Commission's report in June 1966, a Diocesan Tribunal was set up, and the informative process was concluded in November 1967. Father Walker continued his research and promotion of the cause of Father Samuel Mazzuchelli throughout his life in his role of Assistant Promoter of Causes for the Province of St. Albert.

In September 1969, Father Walker was assigned to St. Pius V Priory in Chicago, Illinois, where, despite his failing eyesight, he continued his duties as Archivist. In June 1972, he moved to the Priory of St. Dominic and St. Thomas in River Forest, Illinois, where he spent the remaining years of his life in limited service.