Gladys Jewel Pittman Hudnall Willis, 99, of Jena, went home to be with her Lord on Thursday, July 24, 2014, at her daughter’s residence in Pineville. She was born in Rapides Parish on Saturday, October 17, 1914, to the union of Leonidus Oakley and Pearl Odom Pittman. Mrs. Willis attended Bolton High School and Northwestern State University (known as Normal at that time). She taught in the LaSalle Parish School System for over 30 years, most of those at Jena High School. After retirement, she was a volunteer with the Ladies Auxiliary at LaSalle General Hospital for over 25 years. Mrs. Willis taught Sunday School at First Baptist Church in Jena for about 45 years. She was a charter member of Crossroads Baptist Church near Jena. She was the first inductee into the Jena High School Hall of Fame. There were very few lives in Jena that she didn’t touch during her adult life. Services were held at 10 a.m., Saturday, July 26, in the chapel of Kinner and Stevens Funeral Home of Jena with Rev. Dominick DiCarlo officiating. Interment followed in the Tidwell Cemetery in the Sharptown Community under direction of Kinner and Stevens, Inc. of Jena. She was preceded in death by her parents; two husbands, B. F. “Doc” Hudnall and O. O. “Skitty” Willis; four brothers and one sister. Survivors include two daughters, Maxine Hudnall Glascock and husband Charles of Pineville, and Nellie “Nell” Hudnall Stuckey Taylor and husband Jim of Sheridan, AR; three step children, Jimmy Willis, Cathy Williams, and Orva Lynn Boyd; seven grandchildren, 22 great grandchildren, and seven great great grandchildren. Grandsons and deacons of First Baptist Church of Jena served as pallbearers. Memorials may be made to the future education facility at First Baptist Church in Jena.
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