Elbert Monroe Willey 89, died at his home on Willey Way in Hollywood, Maryland on April 17, 2011. He was the son of the late Charles Edward Willey and Ethel Bramble Fletcher Willey and the husband of the late Billie Mildred Smith Willey.

Elbert is survived by son Robert Fletcher Willey and daughter-in-law Iris Grace Hall-Willey, son David Monroe Willey and daughter-in-law Judy Pilkerton Willey, his daughter Kathy Willey Glockner and son-in-law Ron Glockner as well as numerous step grandchildren, great grandchildren and his Jack Russell terrier Bear.

Elbert was born on January 24, 1922 in Wicomico, Maryland and grew up on a tobacco farm in Charles County. He graduated from La Plata High School in 1940 and immediately enlisted in the Navy.

He was aboard the U.S.S. Kearny when it was torpedoed off the coast of Iceland on October 17, 1941. It was able to proceed under its own power into Reykjavik where it was repaired in the harbor under arduous conditions. After torpedo school he went to Brazil and boarded the USS Memphis and took part in patrol operations in the south Atlantic and neutrality patrol of Fort de France, Martinique. His next assignment was the conversion of a Matson line cargo ship to a repair ship which was renamed the USS Briareus. The ship was reconfigured as a floating dry dock and he transited the Panama Canal aboard arriving in Pearl Harbor in January 1944 where it made repairs on 18 ships. He attained the rank of Chief before he was 21 and was the youngest Chief in the Navy. He remained in the Pacific aboard the Briareus for the rest of the war.

After the war he boarded the USS Delta in Japan and later the USS Fred T. Berry in Hong Kong and mustered out of the Navy after six years of service. He occasionally commented that he was surprised that he survived the war and didn't want to take any more chances. His favorite Navy expression was "when your ship sails, consider all loves lost and all debts paid".

He married Billie Mildred Smith on August 23, 1946 and worked in Washington, DC as a street car driver. They later came to Saint Mary's County where he worked at the torpedo test range in Piney Point, Maryland. He became a supervisory electronics technician at the Naval Air Test Center in 1963 and retired in 1977.

At the age of 50, he began riding horses and had an active life of showing, trail riding and fox chasing. He was a charter member and treasurer of the Saint Mary's Riding Club, and field master and board member of the De La Brooke Foxhounds W. He founded Hickory Hollow Saddlery which he operated until 2004 and he continued gardening, boarding horses and raising hay at his farm in Hollywood until his death.

Family will receive friends for Elbert's Life Celebration on Thursday, April 21, 2011 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Brinsfield Funeral Home, P.A., 22955 Hollywood Road, Leonardtown, MD 20650. A funeral service will be held on Friday, April 22, 2011 at 10:00 a.m. at the Brinsfield Funeral Home with the Reverend Sheldon Reese, pastor of the Hollywood United Methodist Church officiating. Interment will follow in Joy Chapel Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice House c/o Hospice of St. Mary's, P.O. Box 625, Leonardtown, MD 20650.

Arrangements provided by Brinsfield Funeral Home, P.A.