Elbert A. Willie Willis

Elbert A. Willie Willis, 83, of Mexico, died at 6:53 a.m., Friday, Feb. 19, 2010, at Audrain Medical Center.

Funeral services will be Thursday at 11 a.m. at Pickering Funeral Home in Mexico with Rev. Terry Kukuk officiating. Visitation will be Wednesday from 6 until 8 p.m. at the funeral home. Burial will be in East Lawn Memorial Park.

Willie was born Dec. 23, 1926, in Sturgeon, a son of Robert Lee and Bertie Frances (Sims) Willis. On Dec. 2, 1945, in Mexico, he married Mildred Millie Charles who survives at the home.

Willie enjoyed hunting, fishing, and gardening. He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church and the American Legion Post in Mexico.

Mr. Willis served during World War II from 1945-47 in the Army.He was a graduate of Mexico High SchoolClass of 1945.In 1954 he graduated from the Missouri School of Mines at Rolla. He spent many years with AP Green Refractories and relocated several times with the company, beginning in Wood Bridge, New Jersey in 1964. In 1968 he became the plant manager in Troy, Idaho until 1976 when they returned to the Mexico plant until he retired in the early 1990 s.

In addition to his wife survivors include two daughters, Teresa Teka Willis and Evie Rivas-Willis, both of Mexico; two brothers, Houston Willis, Columbia, and Billy Joe Willis, Sturgeon; one sister, Irene Rawlings, Lenore, Idaho; two grandchildren Kimberly Gish and husband Aron, Eugene, Mo., and Jared Hunt and wife Angela, Lake Worth, Fla.; and two great-grandchildren Tyler and Parker Gish.

He was preceded in death by his parents, one sister, Pauline Adkisson, and one brother, Bobby Lee Willis.

Memorials may be given to the First Presbyterian Church. They may be sent in care of Pickering Funeral Home, 403 N. Western, Mexico, MO 65265.