Willard Irving Green

Willard Irving Green, 80, of Bossier City, Louisiana, passed away peacefully on Saturday, November 9, 2024. Our Pop took his final breath as we gathered and sang his favorite Southern gospel songs. Funeral Services will be held on Thursday, November 14, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. at Rose-Neath Funeral Home at 2201 Airline Drive in Bossier City. Officiating the service will be Brother Tommy Patton of Cypress Baptist Church. The family will receive visitors from 10:00 a.m. until the time of the service. A graveside service and burial will follow at 2:30 p.m. at Aulds Chapel Cemetery in Downsville, Louisiana. Officiating the graveside service will be Willard’s cousin, Ron Jordan. 

Willard Irving Green was born on September 20, 1944, to Willard Monroe Green and Katie Marie Jordan Green. Irving, as the family called him, grew up in the Aulds Chapel Community in Downsville, Louisiana. He was the oldest of the three “Green Boys”. He accepted Christ as his Savior as a young boy and was baptized in a pond adjacent to Aulds Chapel Church. The Green/Jordan family was a southern gospel-singing family in the church. It was there that Irving learned to sing, learned to love the Lord, and fell in love with southern-gospel music. 

Willard Irving Green was a 1962 graduate of Calhoun High School in Calhoun, Louisiana, and was named Valedictorian of his graduating class. He was awarded a full scholarship to attend Northeast Louisiana University in Monroe, Louisiana. He graduated in January 1967 with a B.A. degree in Business Management. His career included retail management positions with stores such as Sears, Montgomery Wards, and Family Dollar Stores. Willard’s last 25 years of upper retail management with Family Dollar brought him and his family to Shreveport- Bossier City. 

Willard was a longtime member of Summer Grove Baptist Church in Shreveport, Louisiana. In recent years he and Edna relocated to Bossier City, where he became a member of Cypress Baptist Church in Benton, Louisiana. 

In June of 1963 during a Sunday Homecoming event at Aulds Chapel Community Church, a blue-eyed beauty by the name of Edna Faye Spillers, caught his eye. After the church event, he offered to drive her home. He often joked that she lived so far out, across the tracks to Cartwright, that his radio would quit working as he drove to see her, but it obviously didn’t deter him. They married on July 16, 1965, and celebrated 59 years of marriage. Even in his last moments on earth, he wanted her right by his side. Willard and Edna became the parents of a son, Rex Lane Green, in 1968 and a daughter, Shelley Victoria Green, in 1971. 

Our Pop was a quiet, reserved man with a gentle spirit, so when he spoke you listened closely because he obviously had something to say or had an important question to ask. Pop loved his gospel music, big bowls of ice cream, construction and painting projects, yard work, and cooking on the grill. Most of all Pop loved his people well. The grandkids have fond memories of fishing, sleepovers, swinging in the backyard, "wet water," and being called all sorts of random nicknames such as Jughead, Fred, or George. 

Willard was preceded in death by his parents, Willard Monroe Green and Katie Marie Jordan Green. He is survived by his sweetheart of over 60 years, Edna Faye Spillers Green; son, Rex L. Green, and wife, Wendy Green of Carthage, Texas; daughter, Shelley Green Petro and husband, Christopher Petro of Benton, Louisiana; grandchildren, Colby Green, Riley Green, Landyn Green, Hadley Green, Alayna Fehner, Jace Fehner, Garrett Petro, Reed Petro, and Will Petro; brothers, Steve Green and wife, Trish, Randy Green, and wife, Denise; numerous nieces and nephews, who to this day still affectionately refer to him as Uncle Irving or Uncle Bubba. 

Honoring Willard as pallbearers will be Rex Green, Christopher Petro, Garrett Petro, Reed Petro, Will Petro, and John Paul Rieger III. 

The family would like to express thanks to The Bossier Parish Fire Department Station #5, Willis Knighton Bossier ER, the Willis Knighton Bossier Third and Fourth-floor staff, and the BYKOTA Sunday School class at Cypress Baptist Church. 

In lieu of flowers donations can be made to The Alzheimer’s Association, St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, www.stjude.org, or a charity of one’s choosing.