Obituary for Rep. E. C. Willis, Winn Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Greggory E. Davies
120 Ted Price Lane
Winnfield, LA  71483
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Death Claims Representative E. C. Willis

Final Rites Are Conducted At Sikes Saturday Afternoon


State Representative Ernest C. Willis of Winn Parish, well-known merchant and
farmer of Sikes, died in the Tri-State Sanitarium, Shreveport, Friday morning,
September 13, following an operation.

Last rites were conducted at the Sikes Baptist Church Saturday afternoon, with
the pastor, Rev. R. T. Ratcliff, officiating.  Interment was in the Sikes
cemetery under the direction of Southern Funeral Home.

Attending the services were hosts of friends from far and near, and the floral
offering was one of the largest and most beautiful ever witnessed in this
parish.

Acting as pallbearers were Crosby Adams, Ab Newsom, Iley Gentry, Ralph
Frazier,  M. B.  Parker, Cheston Stevens, Stanley Smith, and Curtis Hatten. 
Honorary pallbearers were members of the 1939 police jury.

Mr. Willis, age 49 years, 4 months, and 6 days, was born at Old New Port in
Ward Three on May 7, 1891, the son of the late Mr. and Mrs. T. C. Willis.  He
received his early education in the schools of the parish and attended
Louisiana Tech, returning to this parish where he engaged in farming, the
mercantile business, and sawmill, and other interests in his home community,
Sikes.  

Mr. Willis was a devoted member of the Sikes Baptist Church.

He took the lead in his ward and community in civic affairs and sixteen years
ago was elected to represent his people as a member of the parish police jury. 
During his ten years of this time members of the governing body chose him as
their president.  In 1939, he was elected parish representative, and attended
the 1940 session of the Louisiana Legislature, where he took an active part in
the deliberations.  He was chairman of the house committee on federal
relations and a member of the parochial affairs, the penitentiary and the
agriculture committees.  He was one of the most popular members of the 1940
legislature, and one of the most influential men in Winn Parish.

As president of the police jury and later as a member of the legislature, Mr.
Willis spent a great deal of his time in behalf of the needy and
underprivileged.

Mr. Willis was married to Miss Lena Puckett and they had three sons, Ray,
Ross, and Puckett.  Ray preceded his father in death.

Surviving are his widow and two sons, Ross and Puckett; three sisters, Mrs. N.
B. Fordham, Sikes; Mrs. Pat Hunter, and Mrs. A. L. Kidd, Monroe; six brothers,
P. J. Willis, postmaster at Barksdale Field, Sam, Jack, and Fred Willis, all
of Shreveport; James Willis of Longview, and Lloyd Willis of Monroe; and a
half brother, Elzie Stringer of Monroe.

(The above submitted by Greggory Ellis Davies, Winnfield, Winn Parish, LA.)