Wills, Audrey Thresa (Age 71) of Suitland, Maryland

Audrey Thresa Wills, 71, of Suitland, Maryland, quietly departed this earthly life and entered eternal life with her Heavenly Father on Friday, May 28, 2021.

Audrey was born on July 10,1949 to the late Charles Burchell Wills and the late Catherine Victoria (Dyson) Wills-Jones in Spring Hill, Maryland.  She was the eighth child in a family of 13 children.

Audrey was nurtured in a loving and stable home and was raised in the close-knit black community of Spring Hill. She was a devout Catholic and was baptized and received her first communion at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in La Plata. Audrey later became a member of the Holy Family Catholic Church in Hillcrest Heights, MD where she served as a Eucharistic Minister in her later years.

Audrey received her education in the Charles County, Maryland public school system where she attended the Port Tobacco Elementary school and Bel Alton Jr.& Sr. High School before graduating from the La Plata High School in 1967. In 1994, she earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree, Business Management, from the University of the District of Columbia in Washington D.C.

Audrey worked for the United States Navy Department, Naval Sea Systems Command, for 35 years before retiring in 2003. She was a dedicated employee and received numerous awards in recognition of her exemplary service to the Navy and our country.

Audrey's school years were special years of her life. She loved school and excelled in most of her classes. Audrey became a life-long friend of three girls, Sandra Washington, Barbara (Jackson) Vaughn, and Shirley Jackson, that she met in elementary school. The three of them were in many of the same classes from Elementary through High School.

Audrey was Always conscientious about doing her homework and helping her siblings with theirs. A highlight of her sixth-grade class was being one of three students chosen by Mrs. Minnie C. Hill (the infamously stern, no-nonsense sixth grade Math teacher) to sell Lance snacks in the afternoon to defray the cost of their class trip to New York.

Audrey went on to Bel Alton High School and continued to excel academically. However, Home Economics (sewing) proved to be her undoing. Try as she might, she said she could never seem to hem, install a zipper, or sew a straight seam.  She even stayed after class to get extra help from the instructor sometimes, but to no avail.  It got so bad that the teacher, Mrs. Sarah Schmoke, granted her a reprieve from that sewing project by declaring ''You Wills girls never could sew!''.

Audrey was a one-of-a-kind, funny, generous, quick-witted, and loving person.  She was fond of assigning nicknames not just to family members, but to some of the more colorful characters she and her sister Pat would meet on their trips! And she was fond of teasing people in a nice and playful way.

Audrey was a person with refined taste.  She loved, loved, loved fine bone china dinnerware; however, her Achilles heel was Bed and Bath linens. She paid attention to details in everything, and the quality of workmanship in anything she purchased.  If she gifted you something, rest assured, it would be so beautifully wrapped that you would not want to open it!

Blessed with a slender figure and an eye for fashion, Audrey enrolled in the Barbizon Modeling School in the early 1970s.  She was elegant and graceful in her final runway show.  Audrey enjoyed being a member of the Greenway Bowling League and was a   die-hard Washington Football Team fan. After retiring, she enjoyed family gatherings and traveling, especially to casinos on the East Coast, with her sister Pat. Audrey was also a huge Prince fan.

In addition to her parents, Audrey was preceded in death by siblings George L. Dyson, Catherine E. Wills, and Christopher C. Jones; brother-in-law Francis L. Wallace; Stepfather Leo Jones, and nephews David and Antoine Washington.

Audrey is survived by siblings Charles L. Wills (Margaret), Mary L. Wallace, Matthews Nolan Wills (Rosita), Helen Patricia (Pat) Washington, Jean V. Stewart (Joseph), Robert X. Wills, Beverly A. Chisley (James), Monica V. Wills, Bonita M. Jones; and sister-in-law Sharon Carkhuff-Jones.

Audrey is also survived by her Uncle Roland Dyson (Celestine), and Aunt Sophia A. Dyson (Mary June), and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.

Rest In Peace

Her viewing will be held from 10:00am until time of service, 11:00am, Friday, June 11, 2021, in the Chapel of Thornton Funeral Home, P.A., Indian Head, Maryland 20640.  Interment Sacred Heart Church Cemetery, LaPlata, Maryland.

On Friday, June 11th at 11:00 am, please click on the link below to live stream the service.

Please make sure when viewing the services that the volume located in the right lower corner (where it says "live") on the viewing screen is turned up (the bars should be blue).

The streaming will begin after the final family viewing.  Therefore, there may be a delay before the service appears on the screen. Thank you.

https://www.thorntonfuneralhomepa.com/live-stream