Jeffrey Lawrence Willis

Jeffrey Lawrence Willis was born on Friday, September 6 1946 in Brooklyn, New York to Irving Willis and Florence Lee Willis. He lived a full 78 years before God called him home on the summer full buck moon of July 11, 2025. He passed in his home in Fontana, California.

He grew up in the neighborhood of Bayside, Long Island and studied at Queens College. He then made his way west and studied Law at USC. He traveled the world and shared many tales of his time in Botswana, Africa where he served in the Peace Corps for two years. In Juno, Alaska he worked in a mine being converted to a museum for a summer and Karpathos, Greece where he lived and loved for a year. He reveled in the days of old when he lived on Venice beach at Billy’s Apartments.

He married in the spring of 1986 to Gloria Elsa and lived in Simi Valley where they raised their two children, until moving to Bainbridge Island, Washington in 1994 for 5 years and eventually landing back in Thousand Oaks, California.

He was a gentle soul with a deep love of knowledge and history. He was a lawyer and a pursuer of justice. He was a poet, a storyteller, a writer, a mystic and a lover of nature, literature, film and music.

He is survived by his younger sister Karen Burch, nephew Kenny Burch and niece Alysha Burch, former wife Gloria Vargas and his two beloved wildflower daughters Sofia and Sara Willis who cherish and love him to eternity and will carry on his legacy. He was a loving father, son, brother and Uncle.

A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date.

Words from our father:

“The mystery the mystery embraces you embraces me, from dust we come and dust we go, the mystery is all we know.”

Rest in Peace Dad. Forever in our hearts. Until we meet again, may your memory be a blessing to us all. “Aloha, bye for now. “See you on the rainbow bridge.