Willie Oates

Will Etta Long Oates (January 14, 1918 – March 4, 2008)

Career Following World War II, she became deeply involved in a variety of philanthropic and volunteer organizations. She helped found the Salvation Army auxiliary in Arkansas, she organized the first Arkansas chapter of the American Cancer Society, and an auxiliary to support CARTI, an Arkansas cancer treatment organization. She travelled around Arkansas speaking, performing skits wearing her signature hats, and grand marshalling parades. She was the first woman to be a member of the Little Rock Founders' Lions Club, and the first woman to be president of the club. In 1959–1960 she served one term in the Arkansas House of Representatives, where she introduced the first motorcycle helmet law and also legislation to allow the teaching of the theory of evolution in Arkansas public schools. The legislation on teaching evolution was controversial at the time and led to her not seeking another term.

Death Oates died on March 4, 2008, in Little Rock, Arkansas. She and her husband are buried in the Roselawn Memorial Park in Little Rock.