Arkansas Blog

Shoot...rest in peace Hat Lady...you will be missed...

Bless her heart, she was a LR icon.

OMG my aunt died now Willy Oates march is become the month of deaths around our house this month i hate willie died she was such a great board member on the Arkansas AIDS Foundation I enjoy working with her at the commpassion awards dinners, she taught me alot about community work and dealing with people in the community !you will be missed WILLIE she was such a GRAND lady !

RL Ramsey
Little Rock Arkansas

hugh, as he often does, stole my words. With Miss Willie gone, who will DBI have in LR to fuel my made up fantasy posts about the Greatest Generation? One last time for Willie....Woo, pig, Suey!

The loss of Miss Willie really saddens me. She would often visit my elementary school when I was growing up in the early '80s, and all of us loved it. I especially loved her vanity plate: HAT. Truly an Arkansas jewel. She will be missed.

An old friend, who isn't registered to comment here, asks that I post this:

Doctor, as she lovingly called her late husband, is obviously happy to have his partner home.

What an incredible LADY!! She respected and treated everyone equally. What a marvelous example of what we should aspire to be! RIP sweet lady.....oh nevermind, you're gonna be to busy for resting! Have fun in Heaven, your new stomping grounds! I know you'll again be the life of the party! Hugs and Kisses!

Never has been, never will be, another to equal Willie. What a ride out of Life!

I'm lucky to count her among my friends.

Godspeed, old girl.

Ya done great!

Damn, we'll miss you.

I was in college in the 80's in Fayetteville, the first time I met Mrs. Oates. She was with her husband Gordon. Me and several of my college friends were eating dinner after a Razorback Football game at Antonio's Restaurant in Johnson. Lot's of folks were in the tiny Restaurant, Willie walked in with her dyed red fur on, and the place fell silent as they made their way to a table. As they got to the table she looked up and smiled and said out loud, "how about those hogs" and everyone broke into calling the hogs. Later after graduated and moved to Little Rock, I called her and asked her if she would be the honorary chairperson for a fundraiser we were having for a non-profit organization. She gladly agreed. We raised more money that year than had ever been raised. She was a true trooper.

A friend sends the following email. I thought it might inspire some creative thought from today's bloggers: What WOULD Fisher's caption have been?

IF ONLY GEORGE FISHER WERE STILL AROUND. CAN'T YOU SEE HER ALIGHTING FROM A PICKUP WITH A HATBOX, COMING INTO THE YARD OF THE OLD GUARD REST HOME WITH A ROOSTER OF A HAT ON HER HEAD?
WHAT WOULD HE HAVE FAUBUS SAY? OR WHAT WOULD WILLIE SAY?

I just read the same email from the same friend, Thermos Day, and I say that Orval wouldn't get one word in edgewise!

That's true silver bells. That woman could talk a coon out of a tree. I enjoyed working with her in the 60s in a Hot Springs shop (shoppe). Back then not only was she charming she had the apparatus to be a model and a very good one. No one looked better in NY furs than Willie, or Damon suits. She earned plenty 'extry' to enjoy the the ponies.

Mrs. Willie was a friend to me. I will greatly miss her, her spirit, her drive, and most of all her energy. At the 1996 DNC, I remember an NBC television reporter came up to where we were standing as we proceeded to go to the floor, and asked our crowd for something authentic from the Arkansas crowd. Mrs. Willie proceeded to lead us all in calling the Hogs!!! She once told me when she heard my grandmother had Alzheimer's that Alzheimer's is a disease that the family suffers, not the person with it. I will miss this wonderful lady greatly. But I am glad she is finally at home with her love.

Kudos to Nancy Nolan ...what a wonderful photograph.

I'll never forget one Christmas season Ms. Oates was a bell ringer for the Salvation Army outside Dillard's at Park Plaza. She had on a red leather jacket and red leather pants and a red hat with red feathers in it. I bet she collected a lot of money that day. What a great lady.

I must say that Willie and Gordon were good friends with my in laws and being invited to parties with that group of characters was some of the most fun I have had in my entire life. I do believe there is an Island X in Heaven and they are all drinking and dancing tonight. We love you Willie.

My deepest condolences to Debbie and Randy. Guess I have been knowing Willie and Doctor since the day I was born. Doctor spent his days with the dead and then went home to a house filed with life. I talked to my mther tonight. She was full of Willie stories. The longer she talked, the more sad she became. Mom won't be able to attend Willie's funeral but she knows Willie and Doctor are dancing again like they used to do at the Tiajuana, supping on steaks, and Willie greeting each and every person as if they were long lost best friends while Doctor danced with all the pretty young ladies. My life was greatly enriched by knowing them. Willie has a new hat and I know it is a halo with feathers.

Miss Willie was the greatest Arkansas cheerleader! Broke the mold. Always smiling. What a wonderful lady. She worked on so many projects for our state and community....gladly. Here's to the Hat Lady!

"We are a sad people, without hats. " - from a poem by Mary Ruefle.

"....it is true that every hat exhibits a drama the psyche wishes it could perform." - from a poem by Sandra Alcosser

I just wonder if we will see many of those in attendance at her funeral services who will wear a special hat in her honor and memory. Great picture of her for this article. She would've loved it.

I was first infected with Ms Willie 's infectious zest for life nearly 50 years ago when we met at the Phi Delt house in Fayetteville. Willie was my friend Randy's mom and from the moment Randy introduced us, I knew something very special had occurred in my life. Decades later Willie and I were thrown together by the fate of our meeting at Bill Clinton's 1993 presidential inauguration. Willie proceeded to include me in all her activities and saying it was "memorable" is a profound understatement. My sincerest sympathy to you, Randy, and to all of Willie's loved ones.