Willie Levi, 73, Dies; He Escaped a Life of Servitude

He was one of a group of men with disabilities who worked for substandard wages at a turkey plant but found justice. He succumbed to the new coronavirus.

This obituary is part of a series about people who have died in the coronavirus pandemic. Read about others here.

If Willie Levi had enjoyed choice in life, he would have gone back to Texas — back to the small city of Orange, where he had played the spoons, sung the blues and lived in a shotgun house crowded with cousins.

But Mr. Levi never had much choice. He was sent first to an institution and then to Iowa, where he and other men with intellectual disabilities worked in virtual servitude at a turkey-processing plant for decades. He never made it back to Orange.

To read more on this story, click here: Willie Levi, 73, Dies; He Escaped a Life of Servitude

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