After his older brother was killed, shot in the back of the head by someone who entered his home, friends asked Abraham Walker whether he wanted to go find the man who did it.

He knew what answer they expected to hear him say.

He also knew what response felt right to him.

“Why would I want to destroy another life?” he recalls telling them. “What do I need to find out that’s going to bring him back?”

Walker describes himself as an “aggressive optimist.” The 37-year-old looks for the good during the awful, and when he doesn’t see it, he tries to create it.

It’s why after his brother’s death, he put together a plan to move with his wife and two young sons from New Orleans to Northern Virginia. He was drawn by the reputation of the schools and the chance to give his boys a life in which they wouldn’t see the loss of friends and relatives as “normal.”
It’s why when his family settled in Alexandria and he found himself feeling disconnected from the community, he created a dads group and grew it to about 170 members.

It’s why when he clicked on a Facebook page for residents in a neighboring county, looking to find someone to cut the lawn at a home he was selling as part of his real estate business, he read through the posts and then started typing.

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