Park Weed Willis papers, 1865-1959

Seattle physician and surgeon Park Weed Willis was born in Umatilla County, Oregon, on July 10, 1867. His parents, William McCellan and Mary Arabella Keyes Willis, moved to Oregon after their marriage in Iowa. After attending the University of Washington in the winter of 1883-1884, Willis transferred to Whitman College in the fall of 1884. It was at Whitman that he decided to study medicine and, following his graduation in 1888, pursued his medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania. After earning his M.D. in 1891, Willis returned to the west coast, where he began his practice in Seattle in 1892. Among the many places he worked was the Children’s Orthopedic Hospital, where he performed the first surgical operation at that hospital when it opened in 1907. He was also on the staff of the Seattle General Hospital and the King County Hospital.

Willis was respected for his work both locally and nationally. He was the first president of the Washington State Medical Association, a secretary and president of the King County Medical Society, and a member of the Seattle Surgical Society, the Pacific Northwest Surgical Society, and the Pacific Coast Surgical Association. He was also one of the founders of the American College of Surgeons in 1913, and a fellow of the American Medical Association.

On June 15, 1892, Willis married Georgeanna Clark in Pennsylvania. The couple then immediately headed west, and remained in Walla Walla, Washington, for a few weeks before arriving in Seattle on August 4, 1892. They had two children, Park Weed Willis, Jr. and Cecil D. Willis, and eight grandchildren. Park Weed Willis died at age 91 on October 26, 1958.

Willis was also active in civic affairs and had a wide range of non-professional interests. He was the co-founder and president of the Seattle Community Chest, and a trustee of Whitman College from 1909 to 1949. He enjoyed duck hunting and belonged to the Swinomish Gun Club. In addition, he was the president of the Pioneer Association of Washington and the Monday Club, and was a member of the Rainier Club and the Washington Athletic Club. Willis was also a livestock breeder and bred the largest herd of pure Guernsey cattle in the northwest at his Orchard Hill Farm in Redmond.