Fort Lauderdale civic leader who owned camera store
LAUDERDALE is seen here in 1968 at the
live in Fort Lauderdale.
“He had an earnestness of purpose and this willingness to give that in my mind is unparalleled,” Curley said.
Besides giving the kids extra flash cubes, Willey was “famous for this CocaCola machine that was in the back” of his store,” Curley remembered. “He’d let all the kids go back, and they had those tiny bottles of Coke.”
The Willeys eventually moved to a condo on the New River downtown, just south of Las Olas Boulevard.
They were living in an assisted living center in Wilton Manors when Willey suffered health complications and died, with his daughters and very close family friends around him.
In the days before he died, he mouthed “I love you” to his daughters, Curley said.
He loved to freshwater fish, former Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle remembered. Naugle’s father had a paint store downtown, and he remembers Willey’s Hobby House.
“He was very well-liked by everyone,” Naugle remembered. “He was active in things like the Downtown Council and the Chamber.”
A 1988 article in the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported he was moving his store farther down Las Olas Boulevard.
“We consider it moving out of downtown,” Willey is quoted as saying. “It’s gotten too metropolitan.”
The article describes Hobby House like this: “… A treasure trove of 20th Century Americana, offering icons of a bygone era alongside high-tech, computerized items. Wooden model airplanes and 8-track tapes are displayed as prominently as exercise videotapes and fully automatic cameras.”
Birch sat on city advisory boards, including planning and zoning.
In 1980, Birch was the first person to be honored as Downtowner of the Year. In 1996, the city named Birch its Distinguished Citizen of the Year.
Willey is survived by his two daughters and his wife.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Friends of Birch State Park, 3109 E. Sunrise Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304.
A visitation is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 19, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Baird-Case Funeral Home, 4343 N. Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale.
A service will be held at First Presbyterian, 401 S.E. 15th Ave., where Willey was a member, officer and teacher, on Wednesday, Feb. 20, at 1 p.m.
A private burial will take place at Evergreen Cemetery in Fort Lauderdale.