From cabbie to cocktail waitress, Willows saw area grow from ‘40s

Tuesday, Dec. 1, 1998 | 11:19 a.m.

Annie Lee Willows, a cab driver, cocktail waitress, single mom and seven-time bride, saw many sides of Southern Nevada in the 57 years she lived here. She died Thanksgiving Day of heart failure at Valley Hospital. She was 87.

In the early 1940s, as one of Las Vegas' first female cabbies, Willows drove what she thought was an unusually high number of men to a ramshackle building off Arville Street and Flamingo Road. She later learned it was a bordello.

In the 1950s, as a cocktail waitress at the El Rancho Vegas casino, Willows, a single mother, would dine off whatever she could steal from the hors d'oeuvres cart, because she did not earn enough money to buy food for both her and her young daughter.

"Mom risked losing her job doing that, but she had no choice -- life was hard for her back then," Betty West, a Clark County School District painter, said. "She was married seven times. But a couple of those marriages were just to have food on the table."

In the late 1960s, Willows was a kitchen worker at Clark High School when a riot broke out following the slaying of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. In the middle of that racial unrest, two Clark students, one black, the other white, came into the cafeteria to avoid the violence. One of them was her son.

"Mom was one amazing lady," Dennis West, a local electrician, said. "My friend Wesley Crockett and I were walking on campus when the violence started. I told him I knew of a better place to be. When we went into the cafeteria, mom served us cookies. There we were, two big football players eating cookies while a riot was going on."

After six failed marriages, Willows found true love in 1975, when she married local businessman Jack Willows.

He was longtime partners with Las Vegas motorcycle police officer Earl West in a cycle supply shop on Carson Avenue, where they sold Harley-Davidson motorcycles and Schwinn bicycles.

Annie and Jack were married for 23 years and were long active in local square-dancing clubs. He died in February at age 90.

Prior to her marriage to Willows, Annie was married from 1951 to 1972 to Las Vegas motorcycle cop Mark West, Earl's brother.

"One thing mom used to talk about a lot was how the cops harassed local cab drivers, yet she went out and married a police officer," Betty West said. "Go figure it."

Willows was born Annie Lee Jones in Chillicothe, Mo., on June 3, 1911, the youngest and last survivor of four children. At Chillicothe High School she was a long jumper on the track team.

In 1941, Willows moved to Las Vegas, because she heard that jobs were plentiful. She landed a job at Whittlesea Blue Cab and long claimed that she was the first woman taxi driver in Las Vegas. That could not be independently confirmed Monday.

It was not unusual for women during World War II to do jobs that were traditionally considered men's work. But that did not make it any safer.

"Mom said sometimes it got scary driving the cab at nights," Betty said. "She said some of the fares were real frightening."

When the war ended and men came home to reclaim their old jobs, Willows stopped driving cabs and found what was then considered more traditional women's work. The attractive 5-foot-5 brunette was able to land several cocktail waitress jobs.

After getting her start at a downtown bowling alley, Willows later served cocktails at the old Biltmore Hotel, the Saddle Club, the Last Frontier and the El Rancho.

When her financial position improved, Willows bought a black quarterhorse she named Diamond. She kept him in a stable near where the Stratosphere now stands. Willows spent many leisure hours riding Diamond to Red Rock Canyon and back over what was then pristine desert.

After living for several years in Blue Diamond, Willows returned to Las Vegas in 1961, where she landed a job with the Clark County School District in food services. She held that position, serving hot lunches at Clark and Western High schools and Hyde Park Junior High, until her retirement in 1972.

She was a member of the Eagles Lodge.

In addition to her son and daughter, Willows is survived by three grandchildren.

Services will be 1 p.m. Thursday at Palm Mortuary-Downtown. Visitation will be 3-7 p.m. Wednesday at that location. Interment will be in Woodlawn Cemetery.