James Allen Willis was born Friday, August 16, 1957 in Wildwood, Florida to James William and Ollie Mae (Creech) Willis. He was their only son and the second child born in the family. He has three Sisters, Janet (Jerry) Rogers, Jo Ellen (Patrick) Ginney and Julie (Steve) Wise. When he was a very young boy, his family moved to their current location Ferndale, Florida.

Allen attended Clermont Elementary School and Clermont Middle School. He graduated from Clermont High School, along with approximately 112 students.

In 1961, Allen's Father, Jim, started the family business of Jim Willis Hardware, the first building for the store was a location in a former restaurant in Minneola, Florida. Allen helped his Father with the business on a regular basis, after school, on weekends and during the summer for many, many hours. The Hardware store moved from Minneola to a shopping center called 50/27 Plaza, where the Winn Dixie in Clermont currently resides, in approximately 1966. In July 1979, Allen purchased the business from his Dad and  In 1984, the store moved to the location on Route 50 in Clermont. The building was sold in June 2020 and the business was closed.

In June 1975, Allen married Darlene Walker, where they purchased a new home in Clermont. They divorced a few years later.

Allen met and fell in love with Della Harper in 1979, shortly after she started working at Willis Hardware. Allen and Della were married in February 1980. They were proud of their first-born son, Jeffrey Allen Willis, who has born April 22, 1981. They built a new home in Ferndale, where they welcomed their second child to the family, their Son James Adam Willis on March 24, 1983.

There were several tragedies the family faced, but the hardest to endure were the passing of Allen's Father in 1991, his Son Adam's passing in 2001 and his wife Della's passing in 2012. These major losses were sudden and caused immense pain for the family.

During the recent years, he married Rosaleen Kelly of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Allen and Rosaleen originally met on a Caribbean Cruise in 1979, and met up again in early 2013. They married and purchased their home in Clermont.

The Willis family was very involved in their church, community, Boy Scouts and Schools. They attended Ferndale Baptist Church, Allen coached Little League Baseball and Women's Softball, Men's Baseball & Softball. Allen also played Baseball and also bowled in a league. Allen's hobbies were hardware and how enjoyed helping the customers at the Hardware Store, fishing, road trips and watching Florida State Men's and Women's sports.

In addition to his immediate family, Allen is survived by: Son-in-law; Alex, Step-daughter; Kathleen, Grandchildren; Kaylan and Keegan Kelly, and 2 Grand-puppies!