Harold Raymond Willis

Harold Raymond Willis, the son of Harry Oliver Willis and Della Florence Wilson, was born January 24, 1919 in Eureka, Kansas, and grew up on a farm, along with his five brothers. The Willis Boys ran barefoot from spring to autumn.How Could a Tall Boy be Named Shorty? All the boys worked on the farm. One of the tasks was harvesting the wheat. They would shock the wheat, and take it to a local mill for processing. Byproducts of milling wheat are wheat shorts, which typically are used for animal feed. After working a full day in the field, Harold was hungry, and he would grab up a handful of wheat shorts, and eat them. One of his brothers saw him eating the wheat shorts, and started calling him 'Shorty'. The name stuck. An honest living through hard work was instilled into him at an early age by his father, who allowed Harold and his brother Keith to use a couple of acres to farm a crop and make a little extra money. They planted potatoes, which they sold for $2 per 100-pound sack. Harold and Keith also worked together to make money by trapping animals near and around the farm. Keith would go out in the evening and set the traps. Come morning, Shorty would follow the trap lines, reset and re-bait them after removing the catch, and take the prize back home. In the afternoon and evening, Keith would skin the animals and stretch the hide in preparation for sale.They would catch squirrels, rabbits and a lot of muskrats, which had a soft fur that rivaled beaver. One time, Shorty caught an otter, which was unusual in that part of the country, near the old bridge by the house. They sold the pelt for $6, one of the best prices they received for a single fur. When Harold graduated from high school, he was given a scholarship to play basketball at Kansas State University. Unfortunately, due to the depression, he was not able to take the scholarship because he simply did not have enough money to buy a pair of shoes. So he did what he always did: he worked. Before leaving Kansas for good in 1936, the boys had traveled to the neighboring states in search of work, but found none. So the family just left the farm, abandoned the old homestead and headed west, hoping to find work in California. They did find work, by and by, each of them, between plant closings and layoffs. His mother took in boarders to help pay the rent. Harold married Vera Lee Smith in Boulder City, Nevada on September 15, 1940. Harold served in the Navy during WWII. When he was shipped to Okinawa, he was on a crew of men who produced oxygen that was used by the military during the campaign against Japan. After the war, first of their four children, Raymond, was born January 21, 1947. He was followed by Donna, Charlene and Robert.During most of his working life, he drove a truck for a living. And, if you spent any time around him, you would have heard at least one of his stories about one of his trips driving a truck.A Lucky Man Shorty looking back on his life, he considered himself a lucky man, and said so many times. He felt lucky that he had good parents. He often said that if there ever was an angel on earth, it was his mother. She was a genuinely good-hearted person. He was blessed to have good health during his life. And most of all, he felt lucky to have met a second angel, his first wife, Vera, who he fell in love with and married. Vera passed away much too young, on November 21, 1979. For the first time, Shorty was alone. He felt out of luck, and life seemed dark. But, his luck eventually came back, and it brought him the joy and companionship of his second wife, Mildred Bobbitt Bishop, who he had known from childhood because they grew up in the same small town in Kansas. She was his third angel. They spent a very happy 20 years together, and were able to enjoy retirement and travelling all across the country. Harold was preceded in death by his son Raymond, who passed away July 6, 2005. He is survived by his remaining 3 children, grandchildren and his newest great-granddaughter. Harold passed away peacefully at home on October 15, 2011.