Mona Willis-Moore, Wife of famed wildlife artist Wayne Willis
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EUREKA -- A former Wellington resident and wife of famed wildlife
artist Wayne Willis died Saturday in Eureka.
Funeral services for Mona Willis-Moore, 84, will be held at 11 a.m.
Friday, July 29, at the Koup Family Funeral Home in Eureka.
At the start of World War II, she moved to south central Kansas and
took a job with Clarkson and StrazaAircraft Co., in Wellington where
she met and soon married Wayne Willis.
After the war, Mona Willis is credited with convincing Wayne Willis to
devote himself to wildlife painting and carving that eventually made
him a nationally recognized artist.
Wayne Willis preceded her in death in 1991.
Wayne Willis ranks among the top wildlife artists in the country, and
he is considered by many to be the premier quail painter. For 60 years,
he captured every movement of game birds on paper, canvas and in wood.
"Wayne Willis is one of the greatest wildlife painters of all time,"
Valerie Marsters, one-time curator of Cobblestone Gallery in Wichita
said. "His work is so exquisitely detailed and lifelike. He brings
Kansas alive."
He drew his strength from nature, and that strength is reflected in his
work. His remarkable aptitude for painting stemmed from his desire to
recapture his experiences in the field for he was always an ardent
sportsman and conservationist. His oil paintings portray a vividness
and realism that anyone familiar with the outdoors can recognize and
relate to.
His paintings take you to the backwoods and the backroads, to familiar
waterholes, across spring-fed creeks and past abandoned farm buildings
reminiscent of an earlier era.
He spent the latter part of his life divided between his studio and
gallery in Wichita, where he could be found regaling his frequent
drop-in visitors with an inexhaustible supply of amusing anecdotes; and
the 'Flying W' ranch located near Eureka where, through a program
sponsored by the Kansas Fish and Game Commission, Maxima Canada geese
have been breeding on the lake for nearly 20 years. The ranch continues
to be managed for wildlife by his daughters.
He was very active in Ducks Unlimited. He was a National Honorary
Trustee for the organization and recipient of the Palette and Chisel
award. His donated prints have raised well over a million dollars for
D.U. conservation and restoration projects. Also a charter member of
Quail Unlimited, Wayne was selected by that organization and the Kansas
Fish and Game Commission as the artist for the State's first quail
stamp and print. He was also commissioned by the Kansas Department of
Economic Development to create the first stamp and print in the Kansas
Wildlife Series. His paintings have been used to illustrate numerous
books and articles on wildlife and the environment.
His contribution to conservation continues today, nine years after his
death. In 1992, former Kansas Gov. Mike Hayden, Community Leaders in
Kansas, and the Willis family created the Wayne Willis scholarship
fund, now the Wayne Willis Wildlife Foundation, partially funded by the
annual "Governor's One-Shot Turkey Hunt" and auction. All monies raised
go to support university students enrolled in Wildlife Management
programs. A portion of the money raised by selling the Willis family's
collection of lithographic prints also goes to the Foundation.