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Family
Marriage: Children:
  1. Elsey Willis: Birth: 1916 in New Bern, NC. Death: 1916 in New Bern, NC

  2. Julia Elizabeth Willis: Birth: 11 SEP 1917 in New Bern, NC. Death: 14 JAN 1982 in New Bern, NC

  3. Doris Emeline Willis: Birth: 05 NOV 1921 in New Bern, NC. Death: 13 SEP 2005 in Denver, CO

  4. George P. Willis: Birth: 14 OCT 1923 in New Bern, NC. Death: 21 SEP 1985 in Norfolk, VA

  5. Evelyn Faye Willis: Birth: 23 OCT 1925 in Norfolk, VA. Death: 03 MAY 2014 in Craven Co, NC

  6. Herbert Anderson Willis: Birth: 22 JAN 1929 in New Bern, NC. Death: 29 DEC 1986 in Waynesboro, VA


Sources
1. Title:   PT38_1

Notes
a. Note:   Written by hisGrandson, Phillip Jr.
 Papa's name at his birth in 1889 (before Birth Certificates) was intended to be George Wallis/Wallace Willis, likely named after his Grandfathers, George Strickland and Wallis /Wallace Willis. Sometime in the 1930's he began using Phillip as his middle name, as he told me, to distinguish himself from another George Willis within the same mail delivery route in New Bern . Why he chose Phillip is unknown. However, George W. is how he is listed in early City Directories and the census thru 1930. George P. is listed in the 1937 City Directory and that point forward. His Tombstone reads George P. Willis. I don't believe it had anything to do with me since he is shown using it in 1937 and I wasn't born until 1938
  Upon the death of his father in 1901, Papa withdrew from school (about the 4th grade) in order to assist his mother in earning income. His mother operated a rooming house in the 100 block of Craven St in New Bern. At that point in New Bern history, Craven continued on to the Trent River. She continued "renting" rooms throughout her life in New Bern and after she and the rest of her family (except Papa) moved to Norfolk, VA about 1923.
  Papa's initial employment was working the "waterfront" in New Bern as they only lived 1/2 block from the Trent River. He liked to talk about one trip to Philadelphia by tug and barge to pick-up supplies for return to New Bern. By the City Directo ry of 1907 -1908 , he had become a Blacksmith, working less than a block from home on Craven St. This vocation caused the loss of majority sight in one eye due to a splinter of iron. That was perhaps the catalyst for his finding other work; just next door to where he worked, the City Hall o f New Bern (the old sign "City Hall" remains on that building). He went to work in the Electric Dept in the basement of the Old City Hall and he cotinued with the "City" until his retirement in 1959.
  In 1914, the year he and Irene married, he was a "light trimmer" (the trimming of wicks for the gas lights of the period). He continued with the "City" thru his lifetime except for a short period before 1925 when he was "pulled" to Norfolk through the influence of his mother and siblings, all of whom had moved there earlier. Papa worked at the Ford Automobile plant for a short while (he said big city life was not for him) and he, Irene, and their four children (Evelyn being born while in Norfolk) returned to New Bern. A fifth child, and theeir last, Herbert, was born in New Bern in 1929.
  Papa returned to work with the City and is shown as an electrical foreman on the 1930 census. He retired in 1959 as general Foreman and remained in New Bern until his death in 19 72.
  Papa was not an educated man in the traditional sense. He was, however, able to do "anything" and was a man "grounded in all of the right things" which made him the pillar of the larger Willis family, including the family of my Grandmother's sister, Roberta Mae (Hawkins) Banks. In the case of the later, (as expressed by some of Aunt Mae's family still living at the time) "Uncle George was the ROCK of the family".
  Papa was a large man, weighing well over 200 lbs and standing about 6 ' 3". To me, he looked to be a giant. Most of all, Papa was a Christian. He also was a member of Tabernacle Baptist Church in New Bern.
  Early in my life I called him Papa and as I became a little older he became "Daddy". I loved my Papa beyond any words I can express !


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