Extracted from The Opelousas Daily World (Opelousas, LA)
La. Hospital Board Chief Willis Dies
ALEXANDRIA -- Episcopal services were held here this morning for Dr. J. T. (Jack) Willis, 51, chairman of the Louisiana State Hospital Board and widely known physician-surgeon.
Dr. Willis died late Wednesday night after suffering an apparent heart attack in his home.
He was the immediate past president of the Louisiana State Medical Society, for which he had also served as vice president and president-elect. He was past president of the staff at Baptist and St. Cabrini Hospitals.
He had served on the governor's Medicare Commission, the governor's drug commission and on the advisory commission at Charity Hospital in New Orleans.
Dr. Willis was born at Columbia and graduated from Louisiana Polytechnic Institute, received the MD degree from Louisiana State University School of Medicine and the Master of Surgery from the University of Minnesota and Mayo Clinic.
He was in the Army Medical Corp from 1944 to 1946 and was chief of surgery in the Army General Hospital Center at Camp Edwards, Mass.
Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Oliva Coffey Willis; two sons, one daughter, his mother, Mrs. Leola Willis all of Alexandria; two brothers and one sister.
Friday, November 29, 1968