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==Biography==

==Biography==

Butler was born in [[rural]] Gibsland in Bienville Parish, the second son of Lou P. and Hattie Butler. The Butlers relocated to Shreveport while Willis was a young boy. He obtained his medical degree from [[Vanderbilt University]] in [[Nashville]], [[Tennessee]], and then pursued postgraduate studies at [[Columbia University]] in [[New York City]] and [[Cornell University]] in Ithaca, [[New York]]. As a new [[M.D.]], he was employed as a pathologist at Bellevue Hospital in New York, the oldest public hospital in the United States. There he conducted the first of his many autopsies and studied how to treat poisons.<ref name=ebrock/> His first wife, Anne Perry "Annie" Dodd (1890-1963),<ref name=adbutler>{{cite web|url=https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=60525&h=120010277&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=EOs364&_phstart=successSource|title=Ann Butler|publisher=Ancestry.com|accessdate=August 28, 2019}}</ref> a native of Trenton in Gibson County in western Tennessee, was the younger sister of Monroe Elmon Dodd, Sr. (1878-1952), the long-time pastor of First [[Southern Baptist|Baptist]] Church of Shreveport and the founder of the former Dodd College for Girls, of which [[Governor]] [[Jimmie Davis]] spent a year on the Dodd faculty. The couple had a daughter, Lucille, and a son, Willis, Jr. After Annie's death, Butler remarried. He and his second wife, Ruth, continued to reside in house in the Broadmoor section of Shreveport, which he and Annie had built in the 1940s. In his last years, he and Ruth also maintained a residence at Hermitage in eastern Davidson County in metropolitan [[Nashville]], Tennessee.<ref name=ebrock/>

Butler was born in [[rural]] Gibsland in Bienville Parish, the second son of Lou P. and Hattie Butler. The Butlers relocated to Shreveport while Willis was a young boy. He obtained his medical degree from [[Vanderbilt University]] in [[Nashville]], [[Tennessee]], and then pursued postgraduate studies at [[Columbia University]] in [[New York City]] and [[Cornell University]] in Ithaca, [[New York]]. As a new [[M.D.]], he was employed as a pathologist at Bellevue Hospital in New York, the oldest public hospital in the United States. There he conducted the first of his many autopsies and studied how to treat poisons.<ref name=ebrock/> His first wife, Anne Perry "Annie" Dodd (1890-1963),<ref name=adbutler>{{cite web|url=https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=60525&h=120010277&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=EOs364&_phstart=successSource|title=Ann Butler|publisher=Ancestry.com|accessdate=August 28, 2019}}</ref> a native of Trenton in Gibson County in western Tennessee, was the younger sister of Monroe Elmon Dodd, Sr. (1878-1952), the long-time pastor of First [[Southern Baptist|Baptist]] Church of Shreveport and the founder of the former Dodd College for Girls, of which [[Governor]] [[Jimmie Davis]] spent a year on the Dodd faculty. The couple had a daughter, Lucille, and a son, Willis, Jr., a 1951 graduate of [[Tulane University]] in [[New Orleans]], who practices family medicine in Haleiwa, [[Hawaii]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vitals.com/doctors/Dr_Willis_Butler.html|title=Dr. Willis P. Butler, Jr.|publisher=Vitals.com|accessdate=August 28, 2019}}</ref>

 

After Annie's death, Butler remarried a few years later. He and his second wife, Ruth, continued to reside in house in the Broadmoor section of Shreveport, which he and Annie had built in the 1940s. In his last years, he and Ruth also maintained a residence at Hermitage in eastern Davidson County in metropolitan [[Nashville]], Tennessee.<ref name=ebrock/>

In addition to his work as a medical examiner, Dr. Butler developed a groundbreaking method of treating chemical addiction. If an addict was terminally ill or incurable, he received maintenance doses of morphine. If otherwise healthy, an addict received a weaning dose of morphine in an attempt to stop the addiction. For those cured, Butler required that they be employed, if possible, and procure fresh air and recreation. Those fighting addiction were urged to interact socially with non-users in the community. hey receive a steady diet of fresh air and recreation. Addicts were encouraged to interact socially with non-users in the community.Butler's clinic closed in 1923, but its reputation on how to treat addicts effectively has grown over the decades. Butler was possibly seventy-five years ahead of his time in the treatment of addiction.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nwla-archives.org/handbook/butlerWillisPollard.htm|title=Butler, Willis Pollard (1888-1991)|publisher=Handbook of North Louisiana online|accessdate=August 28, 2019}}</ref>

In addition to his work as a medical examiner, Dr. Butler developed a groundbreaking method of treating chemical addiction. If an addict was terminally ill or incurable, he received maintenance doses of morphine. If otherwise healthy, an addict received a weaning dose of morphine in an attempt to stop the addiction. For those cured, Butler required that they be employed, if possible, and procure fresh air and recreation. Those fighting addiction were urged to interact socially with non-users in the community. hey receive a steady diet of fresh air and recreation. Addicts were encouraged to interact socially with non-users in the community.Butler's clinic closed in 1923, but its reputation on how to treat addicts effectively has grown over the decades. Butler was possibly seventy-five years ahead of his time in the treatment of addiction.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nwla-archives.org/handbook/butlerWillisPollard.htm|title=Butler, Willis Pollard (1888-1991)|publisher=Handbook of North Louisiana online|accessdate=August 28, 2019}}</ref>