Dallas Ray Wills of Farmersville, Texas passed away on November 9, 2019. He was born the youngest of 5 children in a little coalmine town, Arnett, West Virginia, on November 11, 1934, the son of Harrison & Elsie Wills. (For those that don’t know about a coalminer town, it’s a town where the dust of the mines settled on everything. If you went out to play you would come back covered in black dust). His mother, Elise died in 1935 from Tuberculosis. When Elise died Harrison abandoned the family and gave three of the 5 children in the care of Dallas’ grandfather, Poppy. Poppy did not allow Dallas to go to school because he felt you didn’t need an education to work in the coal mines. The truant officer made Poppy enroll him in school. Because Dallas was two years older than the other children in his class he wasn’t allowed to play any sports in school because he was much bigger than the other kids.
Dallas’ family was very poor, and was not capable of supplying food for lunch, so the teacher made the other children give part of their lunch to him. He resented the fact that everyone felt sorry for him for being from a poor family and gave him handouts. He dropped out of school in the 7th grade. When Poppy died, his sister Madeline took over the responsibility of raising him. Dallas told a story of his best friend that when he used to go to play and his friend was called in for supper he would wait outside on his porch and wait for him to finish dinner, his friends mother would sometimes bring him out a plate of food but would not allow Dallas to come into the home to eat it. At the age of 12 there was a traveling evangelist that came to town, he went and heard the word of God and accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. Dallas was a self-made man. If anyone ever told him he could not do something, he would prove them wrong and go out and do it. He taught himself everything that he wanted to do and did.
Dallas wanted to enlist in the military, but was not old enough to enlist. His sister Madeline had custody of him and agreed to let him enlist and signed the papers. Dallas R. Wills served in West Virginia National Guard from 1951 to 1952 and the United States Air Force from November 17, 1951 until he retired on March 1, 1973. Dallas served at 11 Military Bases: Sampson AFB, NY 1952 - Basic Training, Amarillo AFB, TX 1952 - Aircrafts Mechanics School, Webb AFB, TX 1952 to 1953 - Transient Maintenance, Edwards AFB, CA 1953 to 1954 - Bell X1A Project, K-2 Korea 1954 - F84F - Crew Chief, Cannon AFB, NM 1954 to1955 – F86H Crew Chief, TDY France 1955 – F86H Crew Chief, Cannon AFB, NM 1955 to 1957 – F100D Flight Chief, Amarillo AFB, TX 1957 to 1959 – Aircraft Instructor, Chanute AFB, IL 1959 to 1966 & Again in 1967, Robbins AFB, GA 1966 to 1967 – Weather Technician, Long Bein AI Vietnam 1968 to 1969 – Chief Maintenance, Homestead AFB, FL 1969 to 1973 – Chief Maintenance. He was award the following Metals of Honor: Bronze Star, Air Force Communication, Army Commendation, USAF Good Conduct, Army Good Conduct, National Defense, Korean Service, Vietnam Service, Korean Defense Service, Vietnam Campaign, UN Korean Service, RVN CIV Honor, RVN Gall Cross. Dallas’ words from a soldier’s point of view, “Sometimes we need to hear how proud you are of us, because our lives will never be normal again after war. We need the gratitude from those who we have fought for that makes all the difference...To all of our veteran’s, WE ARE PROUD OF YOU!
Dallas Wills & Edna Ferguson met in October 1956 and married on February 14, 1957. They had three children together; Mark, Nancy & Deanna Wills.
Dallas was preceded in death by 3 brothers, 1 sister, and his son, David (Mark) Wills. He leaves behind many of nieces and nephews.
A graveside service will be held at 10:15 a.m., Tuesday, November 19, 2019 at DFW National Cemetery, 2000 Mountain Creek Parkway, Dallas, Texas 75211. The family will receive friends during a visitation on Thursday evening from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. at Hurst’s Fielder Baker Funeral Home, 107 N. Washington St., Farmersville, Texas 75442.