ASHFORD — War veteran and beloved county educator Willis W. Elkins, will be honored posthumously on Aug. 8 at 10 a.m. as the new Ashford Bridge is renamed the Willis W. Elkins Bridge. “The persons in the community who knew him started a petition drive and got it through the House Concurrent Resolution 16,” Elkins’ son, Bryan Elkins told the Coal Valley News. Willis Elkins was raised in the Ashford area in a two-story farmhouse and served as a submariner in the U.S. Navy during World War II. At the ceremony, his war service will be remembered, as delegates read House Concurrent Resolution 16.

After Elkins came back from the service, he received his G.I Bill and became a teacher at Nellis Elementary school, and served as a Teaching Principal at the Brush Creek School, where he taught grades 6,7, and 8 and then was promoted to Assistant Superintendent of Boone County Schools until the late 19060s, at which time he was hired as the Superintendent. “He went back to teaching at Ashford-Rumble and then went back to Nellis Elementary School as their principal. “The new school was opened in 1980 — and he retired in 1982. After his retirement, community members asked him to run for the Board of Education and he did and he was elected to the B.O.E. While he served on the B.O.E., he was made President,” son Bryan Elkins said. “Oftentimes, they would hire college students to work in the maintenance department, so while my dad went to Morris-Harvey College, he also helped to do work on building area schools. “For his service in the U.S. Navy and the fact that he has been worked in school maintenance, as a teacher, a principal, an assistant superintendent, a superintendent, a coach, a member of the B.O.E. and the president of the B.O.E.– I think that is unique and I don’t think that any individual in Boone County has done all those things,” Elkins said of his father. “I don’t think he was ever a cook, but I know he probably did janitorial work. I know I did when I was a principal,” he said. Willis Elkins’ wife, Frankie, still resides at Ashford. His sons are Byran Elkins and Wayne Elkins, and his daughter is Rebecca Grubbs. “My brother was in the Army, and he was the one who did research on the medals and awards my dad received in the service. Our dad never talked about what he did in the service. After he knew that he was going to die, we looked up all the information and discovered he was on the Nautilus submarine that went on six or seven patrols. The submarine was hit by a depth charge, but it was, thankfully, a dud,” Bryan Elkins says. Willis Elkins died in November 2006 from lung problems.