Edward Dickson Willis, 98, of Barboursville, WV, died Thursday, January 12, 2012, in The Wyngate Senior Living Community, Barboursville, WV. Funeral service will be conducted 2:00 PM Monday, January 16, 2012, at Chapman’s Mortuary, Huntington, with Pastor Bob Hogsett officiating. Burial will be in White Chapel Memorial Gardens, Barboursville. Dickson was born on a farm in rural western North Carolina between Shelby and Newton on May 7, 1913 a son of the late Edny and Mary Wright Willis. He worked on the farm with his four brothers, Carl Willis, Robert Lee Willis, Wilson Willis and Paul Willis and two sisters, Lillie Mae Lee and Mary Agnes Lattimore, all of whom preceded him in death. After his high school graduation, he took a trip to Florida before returning to attend Brevard College. He then went to Berea College and earned his Bachelors Degree. He started his teaching career in Homeplace, KY where he met his wife, Freda. He was drafted into the Army and landed on Omaha Beach two weeks after the initial landing. The remainder of the war, he drove a truck with the Red ball Express delivering supplies to General Patton. After the war, he came home and married Freda who was a native of Huntington, WV. He taught wood shop at West Junior High School and raised gardens in the backyard of their home on South Staunton Road. He and Freda had three children. (Steve, Ed, and Gigi) In the late 1950’s, he moved his family to Seaford, Delaware, where he bought an old farm house with four acres of land so that he could have very large gardens. He continued to teach shop; he obtained advanced degrees from WVU. In his later years, he obtained a degree in counseling and became an elementary school counselor in Milford, DE. He and Freda enjoyed square dancing and after his retirement, they traveled the states in a camper attempting to dance in every state in the lower 48 states. (They didn’t quite make it but had a lot of fun trying.) Freda made most of the outfits that they danced in. They sold the land in Seaford and moved to Wyngate in 2000. The first thing he did upon settling into Wyngate was to ask permission to have a garden which he tended until last year. In addition to his parents and siblings, he was preceded in death by his wife, Freda Evans Willis. Survivors include: one daughter and son-in-law, Grace Gail and Tony Janeshek; two sons and daughters-in-law, Stephen and Jan Willis and Edward and Lynda Willis.; six grandchildren and their spouses, T.K. and Kelley Willis, Tyler and Alphia Willis, Troy and Kristen Willis, Samantha and Joe Alicia, Amita Janeshek and Andrew Janeshek; and 11 great-grandchildren. Veterans Honor Guard Post 16 will conduct military graveside rites. Friends may call after 1:00 PM Monday at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Hospice of Huntington or Berea College.