Willis Reed Baxter, 70

Graveside services and military honors for Willis Reed Baxter, 70, of Holt, Missouri, will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 23, 2019, at the Spring Branch Cemetery in Avery. Mr. Baxter died March 14 at his home.

He was born June 22, 1948, in Howards Ridge, the son of Herdie Lee and Virgie Lou Trivitt Baxter. He graduated from Gainesville High School in 1966 then joined the Navy and served in the Vietnam War. He was discharged in 1971 and moved back home for a time before moving to Warsaw to work on the Truman Dam project. He met Rose Marie Breshears in Warsaw, and they were married on Nov. 21, 1979.  They moved to South Carolina, where Mr. Baxter worked on another dam. In 1984, they moved to Kansas City, where he worked for Fordyce Concrete until his retirement in 2008.  

Mr. Baxter loved to garden and take care of his yard, which looked like a golf course. He also liked to fish, do woodworking projects and build things. He loved to tinker with things and could usually figure out how to fix just about anything.  

He is survived by his wife, Rose, of the home; two daughters, Heather Marie Baxter of Gardner, Kansas, and Felicia Nichole Baxter Spence and husband Travis; three grandchildren, Alexis Rose Baxter, Trenton Lehman Spence and Tucker Reed Spence; one great-grandson, Nathaniel Johnathan Ray Pearson; and many other relatives and friends.  

He was preceded in death by his parents; three brothers, Charles Baxter, who died in infancy, Eddie Lee Baxter and Johnny Ray Baxter.  

Memorial donations may be made to North Kansas City Hospice in care of Reser Funeral Home, P.O. Box 910, Warsaw, MO 65355.

Arrangements by Reser Funeral Home and Cremation Services of Warsaw.

Ozark County Times

504 Third Steet
PO Box 188
Gainesville, MO 65655

Phone: (417) 679-4641
Fax: (417) 679-3423