Willis Daniel “Bill” Stokes Jr., 81, of Sedalia, Missouri, died Sunday, Nov. 29, 2020, at the Harry S. Truman Veterans’ Hospital in Columbia, Missouri.
Bill was born in Niagara Falls, New York, on Oct. 30, 1939, to Ruth Helen Channing and Willis Daniel Stokes Sr. After a brief stint in the U.S. Army, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, retiring after a combined total of 26 years.
While stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, he met and, on Sept. 22, 1958, married Peggy Ann Brown. In the 1970s, when he was stationed at Whiteman Air Force Base for a second time, he and Peggy made their home in Sedalia. After a posting in Monte Virgine, Italy, they returned to that home in the early 1980s.
Bill, along with Peggy, was a long-standing member of the Stewart Avenue Church of Christ in Sedalia.
Bill is survived by Peggy and their seven children, Willis Daniel Stokes III of Fulton, Missouri; Victoria Lynn Knapp and husband Jim of Columbia, Missouri; James Fulton Stokes of Columbia, Missouri; Hannah Suzanne Creed and husband Dean of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina; Thomas Matthew Stokes and wife Sara of Jefferson City, Missouri; Jeremiah Robert Stokes of Sedalia, Missouri; and Samuel Howard Stokes and wife Kari of Natchitoches, Louisiana; and his brother, Norton John Stokes of Penacook, New Hampshire. He is also survived by 11 grandchildren and four great grandchildren. Bill was preceded in death by his sister Sharon Elizabeth Cooper and his granddaughter Julianna Inez Stokes.
A graveside service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday, June 21, 2021, at Memorial Park Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, friends are asked to make a donation to the Stewart Avenue Church of Christ, 1333 S. Stewart Avenue, Sedalia, MO 65301.
Arrangements are in the care of Heckart Funeral Home.