Weldon Len Whitis

A Visitation and Fish Fry Celebration will be Monday evening from 5pm to 7 pm at the Killeen Civic Center.

Mr. Whitis passed away Friday, February 28, 2014 at a Temple hospital after a lengthy illness.

He was born July 14, 1932 in Killeen, Texas to Len and Edna Whitis. He was a longtime Killeen businessman, developer and community leader. Over the past three decades, Whitis and his son Bruce had a hand in many of the Killeen-area residential and commercial developments, including Turtle Bend, Yowell Ranch and Savannah Heights subdivisions, as well as Market Heights, Seton Medical Center Harker Heights and much of the U.S. Highway

190 "Restaurant Row."

Mr. Whitis graduated from Killeen High School in 1950, playing football for Leo Buckley and boxing in the Golden Gloves program.

While in the Air Force from 1952 - 1956, He married Nancy Mae Conder on Feb. 27, 1953, in New Brunswick, N.J.

Not long after getting out of the service, He started Weldon's Electric in 1958, which the couple operated for about 25 years.

In 1975, he opened Action Pawn at its original location on Rancier Avenue and started W&B Development in 1980 and Lone Star Storage Trailers in 1983. From 2004 to 2007, Weldon was also involved in the ownership and management of Automax Ford, which is now a major part of the U.S. commercial corridor. He was a 32nd-degree Mason, and was involved with the Association of the U.S. Army and Greater Killeen Chamber of Commerce.

Weldon was preceded in death by his parents, a brother, Sherwood and a sister, Bobbie.

Survivors include Nancy; four sons, Bruce and his wife, Sara; Brent and his wife, Carolyn; Barton; Bradley and his wife, AG; a sister Dorothy "Dot" Ashworth; Susan Kowitz; grandchildren, Lindsay, Dillon, Travis, Mae, Julie, Jake, Ashley, Destiny and Bayley; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Pallbearers are Dillon Whitis, Travis Whitis, Jake Whitis, Randy Covert, Mike Conder and Phil Bidwell. Honorary pallbearers are Kenneth Stewart, Dave Lazar, Bill Yowell, Jesse Miles, Don Gautier and Benny Boyd.

Words of comfort to the family may be shared at www.CrawfordBowersFuneralHome.com