ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, October 17, 1996             TAG: 9610180004
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                PAGE: E-8  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SARAH HATCH

ROANOKE CLOWN HEADED FOR RUSSIA

When the clowning group In Your Face Diplomats goes to Russia on Nov. 3, there will be a Roanoker among the painted faces. Millie Willis will accompany 33 other clowns on a two-week trip to perform at orphanages, hospitals and schools in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

While many of the clowns are doctors and often take items such aspirin, vitamins and skin lotion to donate to the institutions where they perform, the purpose of the trip is the clowning, according to Dr. Patch Adams of Arlington, who founded the group nine years ago.

Adams, a longtime peace activist, began clowning as a teen-ager. Adams says that he founded In Your Face Diplomats to promote peace by spreading joy.

A clown for 25 years, Willis believes in the healing power of laughter. She helped a local chapter of the American Association of Retired Persons form a clowning group that visits nursing homes and sick children.

"Clowning is liberating," she says when asked why she loves being a clown. "It's still me, but it's a freer me, a sassy me."

LENGTH: Short :   30 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  Millie Willis has been a clown for 25 years, and she 
          believes in the healing power of laughter.