March 22--Willis Clan bandmates pay tribute to family members who died in a 1994 van accident that exposed Illinois corruption in Tuesday's episode of "The Willis Family."
Jenny Willis, who was born about two months after the November 1994 accident, wrote "The Road to Watertown" to honor her aunt and five uncles. Jenny's grandparents Scott and Janet Willis and six of their nine children were traveling on Interstate 94 to Watertown, Wis., when their minivan struck a piece of debris.
The children died from fire-related injuries. Jenny's father Toby, the patriarch of the Willis Clan, was not in the van.
"Jen just played the piece for us and told us the title, and everybody was just crying because we knew what that was. We knew what that story was. But who knows the amount of thoughts and what brought out that inspiration all these years later," her sister Jessica Willis said in a promo clip for "The Willis Family."
The driver of the truck that dropped the debris was found to have obtained his commercial driver's license illegally by bribing a worker under former Gov. George Ryan when he was Illinois Secretary of State.
Ryan was convicted in 2006 on racketeering and fraud charges stemming from the scandal and spent more than five years in prison before he was released in 2013.
The second season of "The Willis Family" airs 9 p.m. Tuesdays on TLC.
