Funeral service for Jimmie Keith Willis will be at 1:00 pm Monday, June 20, 2016 in the Becker-Rabon Funeral Home of Snyder Chapel with Emmett Hayslip, Mountain Park, OK officiating.

Burial will follow in the Hobart Rose Cemetery, Hobart, Oklahoma.

The family will greet friends Sunday evening, June 19, 2016 from 4pm until 6pm at the funeral home in Snyder.

Jimmie Keith Willis, 77, Hobart, passed away Thursday, June 16, 2016 at his home, following a lengthy battle with cancer.  He was born April 2, 1939 in Hobart, the first son of Bennie LeRoy Willis and Verla (Woodward) Willis.  Jimmie graduated from Mountain Park High School in 1957.  From a long line of cattlemen, Jimmie spent several years in Dimmit, TX working on G.L. Willis' cattle ranch.  Returning back to Kiowa County, he later met and married "the prettiest girl I (he) ever saw", Barbara Guest Jackson Willis on December 7, 1971.  They along with their son Michael Jackson made their home in Hobart until the time of his death.  Cousins were special to Jimmie, and he was special to them.  Jimmie was privileged to grow up in a different era, a time when a kid could be a kid.  Jimmie and his brother Don, with favorite dog Mickey, ruled all the mountains and hills around their Mountain Park farm.  He had ownership of such great memories.  He could remember spending nights under the stars in the Wichita Mountains.  He loved to reminisce about Craterville Park and Medicine Park in their heyday with all their celebrities.  He remembered Lake Quanah Parker and the campsites for the many family reunions.  He had stories about the Fourth of July at Glenwood Park with its swinging bridge, and skinny dipping at Rock Hole. Not only did Jimmie have great memories, he generated great memories for his many nieces and nephews, bringing to life stories of the Willis and Woodward families like a great historian.  Although he will be sorely missed, he will surely be remembered as a tough poker player, an avid fisherman, a great pawpaw and a true friend.

Jimmie will be missed by his devoted wife Barbara, a son Michael Jackson, grandsons Kale and Jake Jackson, and the joy of his life, two year old great grandson Michael Jr.  He will also be lovingly remembered by his brother, Jackie Willis, a sister Bennie Lee McDaniel, many adoring nieces and nephews, as well as many special friends and cousins.

He was preceded in death by his mother and father, brother Donald Wayne and a sister Kathy Jane.