Frank Willis

Frank Willis, 76, died May 6, 2018 at home after a long battle with a rare neurological condition. He was born to William Martin Willis Sr and Cora Lee Paudert Willis of Memphis, Tennessee. He was predeceased by a brother, William Martin Willis II, a sister, Myra Delois Willis, and a half-sister, Theresa Louise Clarkson. He is survived by his wife of 49 years, Judith Carol (nee Krueger) of Ocala, Florida; sons, Timothy Martin of Vint Hill, Virginia and Terry Franklin of Herndon, Virginia; grandchildren, Emma Rose and Ryan Thomas Willis of Vint Hill, Virginia; and nephew, Marty Willis Jr of Valrico, Florida. Frank graduated from Treadwell High School in Memphis, Tennessee and held BBA (1963) and MBA (1968) degrees from the University of Memphis. He was a licensed CPA in Tennessee (1965-1995). Frank was employed for 25 years as an Auditor and Management Evaluator with the U.S. Government Accountability Office, Congress’ watchdog agency. Frank’s assignments included work at GAO headquarters, field offices and overseas locations. His work included reporting to Congress on defense-related issues such as procurement of major weapon systems, general procurements, logistics, and defense planning matters. His work in the civil area included immigration, research and development, and international and space programs. In 1988, Frank joined the Central Intelligence Agency’s Office of Inspector General as an Audit Staff Group Chief and was promoted into CIA’s Senior Intelligence Service. He received a special award by the CIA Director in 1992 based on his outstanding performance including preliminary investigative work on a major fraud case that led to a prosecution. Following that fraud case, Frank also served on the CIA Director’s Procurement Task Force examining the agency’s overall procurement internal controls. He was promoted several times before retiring in 1993. Frank’s retirement and move to Florida with his wife Judy permitted them to help care for Frank’s aging parents. In Ocala, Frank and Judy also helped preserve their beautiful rural and agrarian lifestyle by speaking numerous times before the Marion County Commission and other organizations. Frank also pursued a hobby of building wooden scaled models of automobiles, trucks, military, and other vehicles based on blueprints from Toys & Joys magazine. Research was done on each vehicle to make them look authentic. Frank was also featured in the Toys & Joys magazine and Ocala’s local newspaper. Being from a musically-talented family, Frank had a special interest in country and rock ‘n roll music. He learned to play his guitars based on coaching from his brother, Martin Jr, who was a multi-talented professional musician in Memphis during the heyday of the 1950s Rock ‘n Roll and Rockabilly eras. Frank will be laid to rest next to his parents, sister, and Great Uncle Virgil Ulin at the Big Creek Cemetery in Millington, Tennessee on May 14, 2018. In lieu of flowers, please make donations in his name to a charity of your choice.Read Obituary