The City of Tallulah, along with Northeast Delta Human Services Authority and the Ameristar Casino Vicksburg, sponsored a 5K/1K Walk/Run at Madison High School Saturday in honor of Tallulah native Bea Willis, who passed away in 2020 from breast cancer.
“The run was something that we started in 2019 but didn’t get to do in 2020 due to COVID-19,” said Tallulah Mayor Charles Finlayson. “Northeast Delta Human Services Authority has been with us from the beginning and Ameristar Casino came on this year since Bea was a longtime employee of the gaming property. Once we knew that we would hold the race this year, we decided to make it in honor of Bea, who was a major fitness influence in the City of Tallulah. Bea started Empire Fitness here in Tallulah and it helped so many people achieve their fitness goals. Unfortunately, she did succumb to cancer, but her spirit will truly live on not only through this event, but through all of the work that she did for our community.”
Members of Willis’ family were on hand, along with nearly 100 others who came out to participate.
“Our family would like to thank all of the sponsors, community organizations and race attendees for participating in the Transformations 5K/1K Run/Walk in memory of Bea,” said Ann Davis, Willis’ sister. “We love and appreciate you all for everything that was done. It was truly a great day.”
Community organizations who took part included Preventive Measures, A&D Helping Hands, LSU/Ag Extension Office, Sylbyl-Denver Training Facility and Purple Patches.
“Purple Patches is a domestic violence organization that works with victims and survivors not only here in Tallulah but all over northeast Louisiana,” said City representative Yvonne Lewis. “We were truly excited that they partnered and joined their annual walk with this race. It was important that all the community organizations who participated be a part of this day. They were able to share resources on their respective organizations and any time that you can get valuable information to the citizens, then that’s always a win for the community. We were also very thankful for Wyatt’s Gym out of Vicksburg. Bea was very instrumental in that fitness center as well and the fact that they sent a team over to participate in the race shows how special she was to them as well.”
