Los Angeles Times columnist Sandy Banks published a memorial to Chester Willis, a homeless and well-loved street person in this morning’s paper. She talks about Willis’ life, his friendships, and his care for animals. Definitely worth reading. Find it here …
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Chester Willis’s death impacted the hearts of many. The article begins by discussing stereotypes that people have of the homeless community such as homeless people being “unkempt” and “unfriendly.” The article describes how when people got to know Chester Willis that describing him as “unfriendly” was actually untrue, in reality he was a kind and caring man. Willis had a special relationship with animals including pigeons, feral cats, and dogs. A recent guest speaker at University of Redlands, Leslie Irvine, expressed the closeness between homeless people and their animals in a lecture, “My dog always eats first.” As Irvine explained in her lecture, Willis might have viewed the cats as companion animals. They may have provided him with love and stability. The book, “Voices from the Street” adds how pets can provide homeless people with comfort in the chapter “Definition of a Family.” Willis’s close bond with animals showed when one community member described how, “the cats were sitting there on his truck and the pigeons were sitting on the wire, waiting for him to come back.” I find the bond between homeless people and animals to be interesting.