Willie York

Willie York (September 21, 1944 – January 23, 2019) was a resident of Peoria, Illinois, United States, who rose to regional notoriety for his decision to live as a member of that city's homeless population for parts of five decades,^[1] despite offers of help from other people that included shelter and employment.^[2]

York served in the army from 1963 to 1965 during the Vietnam War.^[3]

After leaving the Army and ending his marriage, York took to Peoria's streets. He would typically commit a minor criminal offense each year once the weather turned cold in order to get himself sentenced to one of the local jails for the winter months, but with such a sentence that he would be released in the spring,^[4] although he did spend one 21-month stint in federal prison for throwing an unlit Molotov cocktail at the Peoria Federal Courthouse.^[5]

Suffering from complications of diabetes and prostate cancer,^[6][7] York died under hospice care in Peoria on the morning of January 23, 2019.^[8]