Willis Homer “Tex” “Slim” Gist

Memorial services for Willis Homer “Tex” “Slim” Gist, 68, Lawrence, will be at 3 p.m. today at Warren-McElwain Mortuary in Lawrence. Mr. Gist died Saturday, March 15, 2008, at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.He was born Jan. 12, 1940, in Clarksville, Texas, the son of Haden Leon and Anna Elizabeth Counts Gist. His father died when he was 5 and he was raised by his mother and stepfather, Charles O. Hoeldtke. He had lived in Lawrence 45 years.Mr. Gist was a veteran of the U.S. Army and was stationed in Berlin from 1960 to 1962.He was an officer with the Lawrence Police Department for 25 years and retired in 1991. He had also worked for Coca-Cola, Stokley-Van Camp and Kansas University.He was a member of Indian Hills Church of God in Lawrence. He founded the Centennial Grange, where he and his wife were named the “Kansas State Young Couple of Grange” in 1975. He was also a member of the Fraternal Order of Police in Lawrence.He married Beverly A. Crane on July 6, 1962, in Lawrence. She survives, of the home.Other survivors include two daughters, Shelly Lauber, Eudora, and Linda Bascom, Fort Worth, Texas; two sons, Mark Gist, Lecompton, and Lee Bouchard, Spring Hill; one sister, Audrey Johnston, New Boston, Texas; and eight grandchildren, Kristina, Tyler, Sara, Bailey, Scott, Kaitlyn, Alishia and Cameron. He was preceded in death by one brother and one sister.The family suggests memorial contributions to the American Lung Association or to Douglas County Visiting Nurses, Rehabilitation and Hospice Care, sent in care of the mortuary.Online condolences may be sent at info@warrenmcelwain.com, subject: Gist.