Willis Smith died peacefully in his sleep September 24, 2025 .  Beloved husband for 70 years of the late Norma Joyce (Baldwin) Smith.

Willis was born in Tingley, Iowa in 1930 to Arthur Willis Smith, a livestock broker, and Beulah Belle Black.  His father died when he was 6 years old.   His mother, Beulah, then married Adolf Sorenson and moved to Polk City, Iowa.  Willis hunted and trapped small game and waterfowl at an early age along with his younger brother, Delbert, for food and furs.   He was a lifelong small game and waterfowl hunter.  Walking to school along the dirt and gravel roads led Willis to begin collecting rocks which led him into rockhounding in the 1960s.

He graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in General Engineering in 1952, where he was recruited by McDonnell Aircraft Company .  Willis moved to Ferguson, Missouri and met Norma Joyce Baldwin, the love of his life, who was a secretary at work.  They were married almost 70 years before her death in 2023.

At McDonnell, Willis was involved in most major aircraft programs from fighters and bombers to transports as well as missiles and space. He helped design the seats for the NASA Gemini program.  Earning a MBA from Washington University in St. Louis, he eventually became a long range planner at McDonnell.

Willis was active in social clubs at McDonnell-Douglas.   First joining the Coin and Stamp Club and later was a co-founder of the McDonnell-Douglas (later Boeing) Gem and Mineral Society.  Another favorite hobby was playing a variety of card games.

His wife Joyce and he founded Smith's Rock Hut and were fixtures of the greater St. Louis regional Gem and Mineral shows.  He held many offices and is a past President of the Midwest Federation of Mineralogical and Geological Societies.

Willis was civic minded and was a Street Commissioner and Mayor for the Village of Calverton Park where he and Joyce built their dream home in 1965.

Willis was always about family.  Weekend vacations were spent camping, fishing and canoeing in the Ozarks and visiting family in northwestern Missouri and southern Iowa.  Longer vacations were enjoyed visiting family in Oregon.

He designed several houses, including his own in Calverton Park.  He helped his children remodel their homes. He assisted his in-laws in building their dream home at Lake Sherwood, Missouri.  He was a jack of all trades.

He was much loved and will always be missed.  He is survived by his sister Zelda, brother Chuck, brother John, his three children Mark (Johana), Toni (Joe), Laura (Dan), seven of his eight grandchildren and four great grandchildren.