Cardis Cardell Willis (August 3, 1937 – February 10, 2007), better known as Cardell Willis and often billed as C. Cardell Willis, was an influential Milwaukee comic. He was locally known mostly in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. He went by the name Cardell socially and professionally, but used his formal name legally. Willis was born in 1937, either on April 20, or August 3. The discrepancy is due to the remoteness of his hometown of

Forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

, Mississippi, and the fact that births had to be reported in the capital of

Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Qu ...

at the time. He was born to William and Pearlie Mae Willis. He was the youngest of eight. His siblings included William, Joseph, Lilly Mae, and Geneva. He was mentor to

Will Durst Will Durst (born on March 18, 1952) is an American political satirist. He has been called a modern mix of Mort Sahl and Will Rogers. Early life Durst was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He went to 14 different schools before graduating from W ...

before his eventual fame in San Francisco, and Dobie Maxwell, as well as Richard Halasz, and Chris Barnes, all of whom are natives to

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

. He eventually developed

Alzheimers Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As t ...

, which robbed him of his ability to tell the storied jokes he was known for. He died on February 10, 2007, in a group home at age 69 after suffering two strokes. He was buried at Graceland Cemetery in Milwaukee. A tribute show occurred to honor Willis' contributions and generosity to his peers and community. The MC was Dobie Maxwell, who called Willis his " comedy father". The tribute show was donation-supported, and the remaining proceeds were given to the

Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest List of youth organizations, youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth partici ...

, in which Willis was a Scoutmaster and had received the

Silver Beaver Award The Silver Beaver Award is the council-level distinguished service award of the Boy Scouts of America. Upon nomination by their local Scout council and with the approval of the National Court of Honor, recipients of this award are registered adu ...

. According to onmilwaukee.com, Mayor Barrett designated April 22, 2012, as Cardell Willis Day.

References

External links

Archives of Willis from jsonline.com
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Dobie Maxwell's reaction to Willis' death
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Willis, Cardis Cardell 1937 births 2007 deaths African-American male comedians American male comedians 20th-century American comedians People from Forest, Mississippi People from Milwaukee 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people