Bradley Hunt Willis

SSG Bradley Hunt Willis is survived by his wife, Evy Johanne and their three children, James Ronald, Hannah Elise and Bradley jr. He is also survived by his sister Christy and brother-in-law Thomas. He leaves behind nieces, nephews, and cousins, as well as other family and friends in the U.S., Norway, Germany and other parts of the world where his friendship has reached.

He is preceded in death by his father Ronald (Ron) Earl Willis, a relief pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, and his mother Rebecca (Becky) Ann Willis, as well as his sister Angie Renee Willis.

Brad was born in 1969 in St Louis and grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. He went to White Station High School and graduated from Overton High School in 1988. After high school he joined the U.S. Army, where he was a graduate of the United States Army Airborne School at Fort Benning, Georgia the U.S. Army Radio Operators Course at Fort Gordon, Georgia and the U.S. Army School of Music at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He worked with military intelligence, was a radio operator/maintenance specialist and was a qualified paratrooper, but most of his 20 years in the U.S. Army, he served as an Army Bandsman.

He served with the 313^th Military Intelligence Battalion, the 82^nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, played for the 82^ndBand and was stationed at Fort Lee and Fort Monroe, Virginia. His main instruments were upright bass, electric bass and tuba, but he also mastered other instruments.

In 2002 he was stationed in Heidelberg, Germany, where he was part of the U. S. Army Band Europe. He played with the concert band, the jazz band and the marching band and performed in almost every country in Europe, and also in Russia and Morocco, Africa.

In Heidelberg he met his wife. They got married in Norway in 2004 and their first son was born in Germany. They came back to the U.S. to be closer to family before their daughter was born in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. In 2010 he retired from the Army, became a part of the Glenn Miller Orchestra for a short period. In 2011 the family moved to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where his mother and sister with family lived and he enjoyed spending time with family.

In recent years, Brad continued his love of music while both studying and teaching music at MTSU in Murfreesboro.

Brad was a family man and loving and devoted father. He loved to play with his children, taking them places and generously showering them, his nieces and nephews and others around him with presents and attention.

Greatly loved, deeply missed!

Memorial donations may be made out to the local charity Last Call 4 Grace http://lastcall4grace.org/ or another charity of your choice.

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