Willie Mae Meeks Reitzell

Willie Mae Meeks Reitzell of Monroe, Louisiana, went to be with the Lord on November 5, 2025.

Willie Mae was Born in Eudora, Arkansas, on the Beouf River in 1929. She was the youngest of thirteen siblings and the last remaining one. Willie Mae, the daughter of a sharecropper during the Great Depression, worked on the family farm in her youth. To get to school every day, she would have to take the ferry to cross the river and walk miles there and back. During high school, Willie Mae was an avid actress and starred in many school plays. Her favorite role was Minnie Pearl, for which she received a standing ovation. She graduated from high school in 1947 and then moved to Monroe at the age of 18 to work as a telephone operator at BellSouth, where she worked for 21 years. It was in Monroe that she met her husband Richard Reitzell, to whom she was married for 66 years. She was a member of First Baptist Church of Monroe since 1963.

Willie Mae had three beautiful children, Evan, Christine, and Alicia. Willie Mae constantly hosted church functions, showers, and parties for others because she was given the gift of hospitality. Willie Mae was truly selfless and lived a life devoted to others and the Lord.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Charlie Lucas Meeks and Ruth Burford Meeks, as well as four sisters and eight brothers.

She is survived by her husband of 66 years, Richard E. “Dick” Reitzell; one son and his wife, Evan and Susan Reitzell; two daughters, Christine and Alicia Reitzell; two granddaughters, Savannah and Doxie; five grandsons, William, Christopher, Ian, Johnathan and Quentin; seven nieces; eleven nephews; seventeen great nieces; 26 great nephews; 27 great great nieces; 35 great great nephews; five great great great nieces; and six great great great nephews and a host of cousins and family.

Willie Mae was the matriarch of the Reitzell family and a fixture in First Baptist Church of Monroe and the community as a whole. She was the epitome of a family wife and mother. Willie Mae always made those around her feel loved with a kind word or a thoughtful prayer. A devoted Christian, she lived her life as Christ intended and followed the Word as much as she encouraged others to do so through her example. Willie Mae had an answer for all of life's problems, both practical and spiritual, and possessed life experience and knowledge that only comes with living the life she did. Her love, guidance, and warm embrace will be missed by all of those who knew her.

Arrangements will be held at Mulhean Funeral Home of Monroe, Louisiana, located at 2308 Sterlington Road, Monroe, LA 71203, on Friday, November 7, 2025. Visitation will be on Friday, November 7, 2025, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Her funeral service will be immediately after the visitation at 2:30 pm. Her burial will take place afterwards at Mulhearn Memorial Park, 623 Highway 80 East, Monroe, Louisiana 71203.

If donating in Mom’s memory, please consider donating to the Food Bank of Northeast Louisiana (4600 Central Ave, Monroe, LA 71203; 318.322.3567; https://foodbanknela.org/

She was an avid supporter of the food bank and gave money even when she didn’t have it. Because of her early life experiences, Willie Mae knew what it meant to go hungry and made it her cause so that others would not.