Joseph Edward Walls was born in Tomberlin, Lonoke County, Arkansas on April 16, 1908, the son of Andrew Jackson and Ida Smith Walls. The elder Walls was a Lonoke County pioneer and elected sheriff in 1898. He served in that position until 1904, and subsequently as county judge from 1904-1914. Through marriage, the Walls family is related to Joseph Taylor Robinson, former Arkansas governor, senator, and congressman, and former United States Federal Judge Elsijane Trimble Roy. Andrew Jackson Walls' first wife, Mary Ann (Mollie) was a sister to Robinson, while their daughter Elsie Jane married prominent Lonoke County attorney Thomas Clark Trimble and were the parents of Judge Elsijane Trimble Roy.

Joseph Edward Walls graduated from England High School in 1926 and was a 1930 graduate of the University of Arkansas with a business degree. In 1938, he married Mary Amorial Gravette in Tomberlin, Arkansas. Together, the couple had three children, Sandra, Edwina, and James Andrew. Walls was a farmer by profession but was historically-minded, which was evident in his lifetime membership in the Lonoke County Historical Society. He was also a long-term deacon and treasurer with Coy Baptist Church in Coy, Lonoke County, Arkansas. Walls died on August 24, 2007, at the England Manor Nursing Home in England, Lonoke County.