Billie (Blackford) Beatty
1926 – 2003
As you all know, I lost my beautiful wife on
October 7th. This is the way she looked when we married. When I first saw
her, I thought she was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen, I still
thought that the day she died. She was sixteen years old when this picture
was taken during her junior year in high school. We were married that spring
when I was home on furlough and I carried this picture with me all through
the three plus years I spent in the U.S. Army Air Force. Shortly after we
were married I shipped over-seas and it was twenty-six months before I saw
her again.
This issue of the newsletter is dedicated to the memory of Billie. She did
not have much family, it was only necessary for me to notify two cousins
when she died. After the Beatty Family reunion started she always said that
the Beatty’s were her family. She could hardly wait each year for the
reunion to come around. She loved all of you and I know you all loved her.
When a family member would die she would mourn for them just like she would
a brother or sister.
She was one of the most caring and loving persons I have ever known. Every
place we lived she left behind friends who loved her. An indication as to
how much she cared for people was related to me by my daughter just the
other day. She said she and her mother were out in the car and it was
raining cats and dogs. A young woman and her little girl were walking in it
and of course they were drenched. Billie had her golf umbrella in the car,
which was a really big one and she stopped and gave it to the lady.
She was always searching for some way to make my life a little easier and
when I was bedfast ten years ago she nursed me back to health and took care
of me just like she would a little baby. She refused to let me die. The Lord
blessed me by letting me have her for sixty one years and he blessed us both
by giving us four beautiful, loving children. When she died I was holding
her hand and three of the kids were stroking her head and when it was time
to go she just stopped breathing.