People wonder what she did to live so long. The Bible says, "Honor your father and mother that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth."

Leta Colleen Hill Willis was born in King's Daughters Hospital in Temple, Texas, on October 24, 1923, when many children at that time were born at home.

She was born during the Coolidge administration, just before the nation began feeling the effects of the Depression. Her family felt it less so, because they were sharecroppers and grew their own crops. The adults back then sheltered their children from their own misery. But she and her sister helped by picking cotton with her family. She would ride with her father on a wagon to the cotton gin to process the cotton they had picked.

She was the firstborn of her parents, the child on whom they practiced their ideas of child-rearing. She felt the weight of being an obedient, responsible child, pleasing her parents, and caring for her siblings.

She was surrounded by a large family of cousins, aunts, and uncles. Her ancestry was German and English as the country became aware of the threat of the leader of Germany. Her relatives were unaware of the lasting effects they inflicted by taunting her for her heritage, which was not under her control. She remembered the cleanliness of her German grandmother, who would wash her feet before she lay down in a bed, because she only wore shoes to school or church. And her grandmother wouldn't allow the family dog to drink out of the water trough for the chickens they raised.

Her family took her to church from the time she was a baby. Her great-grandparents brought in the first church to her community. She remembered seeing her great-grandmother take a nap in the afternoon with the Bible lying beside her on the bed. The women in Colleen's family were influential: her grandfather was never baptized, but all his children and their spouses were. Her father was baptized after he met her mother, her sister's husband was baptized after he met her sister, and her own husband was baptized after he met Colleen.

Her mother's siblings had to continue on to college if they still lived at home after graduation. Colleen excelled in school and college.

FDR was likely the first president in her memory, since he served for so many terms. Colleen was studying for college on a Sunday afternoon when Pearl Harbor was attacked.

She came of age when the country went to war with the Germans. Communication of events was sparse, mainly through censored letters and postcards rather than telephones, which were uncommon. Long-distance calls were too expensive to use. Information on the war about her uncles and boys from home was delayed and delivered by mail, newspapers, or surreal newsreels at the movies. Colleen was among the women who first began working away from home, and she took a job with the Santa Fe Railroad Company. Providence placed her in the house of a preacher and his family when she moved to Fort Worth to work.

Coming from a variety of beautiful sisters, she was asked to represent several businesses as a Miss Temple candidate, but she demurred because of modesty.

Colleen married Charles, whom she met on a blind date at a picnic while he was in flight school. He impressed her by putting potato chips down her back. Charles was frequently called away to fly to places she couldn't go. Their firstborn son was nearly two when Charles finally came back from the Korean War. Their daughter was born the next year. The same year, her father died, but she couldn't attend his funeral because it was too far to travel while expecting their daughter. Colleen eventually learned how to drive to manage the care of her mother, her mother-in-law, her sister, their three children, and five grandchildren, none of whom could drive.

Charles' time in the Air Force took them to live in Michigan, Florida, and Kansas. Eventually, they returned to Texas and lived in a house Charles built. Their grandchildren and her sister's grandchildren roamed the estate to investigate a pond, the bluebonnet wildflowers, and the menagerie of horses and geese living there. She and Charles entertained relatives for Thanksgiving each year, including her 90+-year-old grandmother, who made the trip from Texas to visit them in Kansas. She and Charles visited their sons in New York and California. They visited their daughter in San Francisco, Florida, Washington, D.C., Hawaii, England, and Paris, and they toured the Eiffel Tower on their 51st anniversary.

She always liked needlework, and she crocheted afghans for their grandchildren and great nieces. She sewed numerous other items for their daughter.

She lived on her own in a house near her older son and daughter. She bantered with her quick wit with medical people, relatives, church members, and anyone who came over to the house. She talked about God to her children, her grandchildren, and anyone who came over to the house. She read the Bible every day.

She passed from this world in the early morning of May 15, 2026 at the age of 102 in Abilene, Texas. She was friendly to the end, speaking with the nurse a few minutes before her death.

Graveside services will be held on Friday, May 22, 2026, at 11:00 AM at the Texas State Veterans Cemetery, located at 7457 W Lake Road, Abilene, Texas.

Colleen was preceded in death by her loving husband, with whom she shared a 65-year marriage, as well as her parents and her sisters, Dorrace Poe and Marjorie Hamilton.

She is survived by her son, Steve Willis and his wife, Marilyn; her son, Gary Willis and his wife, Mary; and her daughter, Phyllis Willis. Colleen's legacy lives on through her grandchildren, Autumn Cauthen and her husband, Cody; Amanda Horton and her husband, Jay; Seth Willis, Jordan Willis and his wife, Becky; and Meleah Willis, and her great-grandchildren, Ainsley Cauthen, Chase Cauthen, Ellery Willis, Camden Willis, Hutton Willis, Micah Willis, and Brianna Willis who will carry her spirit forward. She also leaves behind several nieces and nephews who were blessed by her warmth and kindness.

As we bid farewell to Colleen Willis, we remember her not only for the years she had with us but also for the indelible marks she left on our hearts, enriched by her legacy of love.


Who can find a virtuous woman, for her price is far above rubies.