Obituary of Clayton Lee Willis

Clayton Lee Willis of Duxbury, MA, passed away peacefully at home on June 21, 2014 after a three year battle with cancer. He was 66 years old. Lee retired from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in 2008 after a 34 year career during which he held managerial and executive positions in nearly every phase of human resources management. Prior to his relocation to Boston in 1998 as the Director of Employment Services for the New England Region of OPM, he was the Deputy Director for Staffing Automation in Macon, GA. He also served as the Director of the Federal Governmentwide Administrative Law Judges (ALJ) program in Washington, D.C. Prior to beginning his federal career, Lee was a counseling psychologist at Duke University Medical Center. He held a bachelor's degree in psychology from Appalachian State University and a master's degree in counseling psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also completed the Senior Executive Fellows Program at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government in 1987 and served on its Alumni Council. Lee was a gourmet French cook who would readily admit to preferring a good hot dog with cole slaw or a plate of North Carolina style barbeque with hush puppies. He loved kayaking and rowing out on Duxbury Bay. He was an accomplished photographer and a UNC basketball fanatic. He enjoyed tracing his family roots and was an expert on Civil War history. Most important of all, he was a devoted son, husband, and father who always put family first. Lee was the beloved husband of Kerry Willis of Duxbury and the loving father of Amanda Willis of Boston. He was predeceased by his parents, Threet and Maxine Willis of Shelby, NC as well as his two sisters, Juanita Willis and Patti Ruth Rippy. A Native North Carolinian and proud "Tarheel", Lee never lost touch with his Southern roots. At his request, a private graveside service was held in Duxbury and his memorial service will be held back home in rural North Carolina at the family church where his father and other ancestors are buried. The memorial service and celebration of Lee's life will take place on July 12, 2014 at 2 PM at Hull's Grove Baptist Church in Vale, NC. It will be followed by a reception for his extended family and friends from throughout the area. A man of great intellectual curiosity, kindness, and wit, Lee was loved and respected by all who knew him. He will be deeply missed. Lee had a rare form of cancer for which very little research exists. The family respectfully requests that memorial contributions in his name be made to the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.