Harold "Hal" Duane Willard

Notes:

Volume 20 of the STRIFFLER-BENKELMAN BROADCAST, dated September 2, 1957, reported that Harold D. Willard was graduated from Wayne State University on January 25, 1957, with a B.S. Degree in Education. He had continued at the University doing his graduate work, and was going to be an instructor at the University in 1958-1959.

Cass City Chronicle
Thursday, October 24, 1968

Last Rites today for Hal Willard

Funeral services for Harold D. "Hal" Willard, 36, who succumbed Monday from heart disease will be held Thursday at 11 a.m. at Smith Funeral Home in Port Huron.

Willard is a former resident of Cass City and was a star athlete at Cass City High School where he played end in football and was a member of the basketball team. Although still a young man, Willard had achieved athletic prominence and was widely known across Michigan.

He was a quarterback at Wayne State in 1954-55-56 and later served as coach and on the faculty at Wayne for 10 years.

He left WSU because of sports de-emphasis to become head football coach at Port Huron High School for two years. He was appointed athletic director by Port Huron Board of Education in July 1967, the post he held at the time of his death.

Willard was the fourth member of his family to die of heart disease at a comparatively young age.

Friends and associates have established a scholarship fund for the education of two children in the family and contributions in memory of Willard may be sent to Dr. Gerald S. DeGrow, superintendant of Schools, Port Huron.

Willard had received his BS and Master's degree from WSU and did post-graduate work at the University of Michigan. He was a member of the Omicron Delta Kappa, a national honor fraternity.

His wife is the former Joyce Fry of Cass City, who lives with their two children, Mark and Julie Ann, at 5294 Locustwood Ave, Port Huron.

Also surviving are two brothers, Harvey Willard and Louis Williard, both of Milford.

Burial will be in a Port Huron cemetery.

(Transcribed by Melinda McLemore Strong, June 2012)

Harold married Florence Joyce Fry on 27 Jun 1953 in Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan. Florence (daughter of Robert Ellsworth Fry and Wilma Dorothy Striffler) was born on 29 Feb 1932 in San Luis Obispo, San Luis Obispo County, California; died on 24 May 2014 in Marysville, St. Clair County, Michigan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]