Lee Andrew Willis, Jr.

Lee Andrew Willis, Jr., 84, of Raleigh, passed away peacefully at UNC Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill on Friday, April 17, 2026.

Born on February 19, 1942, at Saint Luke’s Hospital in New Bern, NC to Lee Andrew Willis, Sr., and Ruth Sadler Willis.

Lee was raised in Bayboro and graduated from Pamlico County High School, attended North Carolina State University and graduated from Gaston Technical Institute. He married his high school sweetheart, Caroline Tingle, on July 8, 1961. Upon graduation, Lee served as a quality control and product development engineer for the General Electric Corporation in Lynchburg, VA, where they developed and manufactured televisions and stereo equipment. With a desire to get closer back to his home state of North Carolina and Pamlico County, he later took a similar position at a new facility with the Sylvania Corporation in Smithfield, NC. With an entrepreneurial spirit, Lee and Caroline moved back to Pamlico County in 1971 to become small business owners by opening Lee’s TV and Appliances in Alliance. He sold televisions and other electronics as well as performed a variety of repair services. He also installed a large number of radio telecommunications equipment on the commercial fishing fleet of Pamlico County. He later expanded the business to include a Western Auto franchise. The business sold everything from automobile parts and tires to appliances, lawn and garden equipment, bicycles, toys, and sporting goods. It provided one of the only convenient options for the citizens of Pamlico County to shop and to have appliances and electronics serviced. In the early 1990s, Lee and Caroline had the opportunity to sell the Western Auto store. At this point, with new-found time on his hands, he became an instructor at Pamlico Community College where he taught electronics and pre-engineering courses. In addition, he also served as a part-time funeral assistant for the Bryant Funeral Home in Alliance, where he provided comfort and a friendly face to many people of Pamlico County during times of grief.

Lee spent long hours in his business as a merchant serving the citizens of Pamlico County, but he was always available for other pursuits and time with his family. He spent his childhood and later lived on the Bay River in Maribel, where he was most at home enjoying fishing, hunting, sailing, boating, golfing, and water skiing. It was said Lee was the first person to water ski on the Bay River during his teenage years in the early 1950s. He enjoyed teaching his boys and everyone that came to “the river” to learn how to ski, sail, and fish. One of his biggest passions, and where he was most happy, was flying and piloting one of the several small airplanes he owned. He became an instrument-rated pilot in the early 1980s and flew all over the eastern United States. From the 1980s to the mid-1990s, he was an active member of the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary, where he utilized his piloting skills and his aircraft on many weekends patrolling the coast of North Carolina, including performing search and rescue missions.

Throughout his life, Lee was a deeply spiritual and devout Christian. He taught Sunday School classes throughout his life, where he always utilized visual aids, including maps and timelines, to easily depict the life of Jesus and his disciples. He believed it was vitally important to understand how and where Jesus and his followers lived for a deeper understanding of his mission here on earth. He played the organ for many years at Rock of Zion Freewill Baptist Church, spreading the messages of God through music. Since the early 1990s, Lee was an active member of the Gideons, sharing his witness and bringing others to Christ. He often used this ministry to spread the word of God in the jails and prisons of Pamlico, Craven, and Wake counties. Many individuals decided to follow Christ after talking with Lee.

Later in life, he enjoyed traveling with Caroline with one of their grandchildren often in tow. He was a devoted and loving husband – always caring for and treating Caroline as a true and equal partner in love and marriage. He also served as a loving father and grandfather. He took interest and joy in his children and always pushed them to work hard and to be kind to everyone they came in touch with. He had the same energy and love for each of his four grandchildren, who he relished helping with schoolwork and teaching them how to work hard, being curious about science and solving problems on their own. They learned he could fix anything and was their one and only “Papa”.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his sisters and their husbands, Rowena Miller (Austin) and Lena Ruth Hardison (Dalton).

He is survived by his beloved wife of almost 65 years, Caroline Tingle Willis; sons, Lee Andrew Willis, III (Jennifer) of Cary, NC and David Alan Willis (Betsy) of Dallas, TX; as well as four grandchildren, Lee Andrew Willis, IV, Maxwell Yates Willis, Harper Bailey Willis and David Alan Willis, Jr.

Lee, through his family, would like to thank the many nurses and physicians at UNC Health that helped him through his most challenging times over the last few years. In his final days, every physician and nurse could not explain how someone so small in stature could be so strong and resilient for so long. He fought a great fight. These teams were like family to Lee and his family in his final few years of care.

A visitation will be held on Thursday, April 23rd, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Daniels-Sadler Funeral Home in Alliance, NC. A memorial service will be held on Friday, April 24th at 10:00 a.m. the Rock of Zion Original Free Will Baptist Church in Grantsboro, NC. Interment will take place immediately following the memorial service at Hollywood Cemetery in Olympia, NC.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions be made to the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center in memory of Lee Andrew Willis, Jr. Donations may be mailed to UNC Health Foundation, 123 West Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27516.