Billy "Okie" Paul Phillips

Billy "Okie" Paul Phillips, of Groesbeck, passed away peacefully at his home, surrounded by his family, on Sunday, March 18, 2012. He ws 71. A Memorial service will be held Saturday, March 24, 2012, at 11:00 A.M. at the Church on the Rock (1470 N. State Hwy 14),Groesbeck. Interment will be in the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Killeen. Billy was born February 1, 1941 to William Paul and Iva Edna Phillips in Ryan, Oklahoma. He was known as "Fuzz" or "Fuzzy" by all the family his entire life. In the Army, he was called the "Big Indian", and in Groesbeck was known as "Okie." Fuzz attended school in Ryan and Waurika, Ok. He enlisted in the U. S. Army in 1959, and was serving in Germany during the Berlin Crisis. After being discharged for only three months, Billy re-enlisted in the U. S. Air Force in 1965, and served in Thailand and Vietnam. He retired at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls in 1979 after twenty years of military service. Billy was united in marriage on March 23, 1962 to Betty Ruth Yeager at Waurika, Ok. They had met his senior year in high school and corresponded while he was away in the Army. They raised their four children at Corpus Christi, Wichita Falls, Selma, AL, and Sheppard AF military bases, where the family lived while he was serving overseas. After his military retirement, Fuzz and Betty owned a donut shop, a restaurant, a farm, and an antique store, "House of Things" (where they sold used furniture they had refurnished.) Then he went to work for the U.S. Post Office in Duncan, OK, and retired there after twenty years. At each move in the military and in retirement, the family located a church as their first priority in their new town. Mr. and Mrs. Phillips moved to Groesbeck in 2005, as a result of their former pastor at Waurika being located in Coolidge and being their son’s father-in-law. They became members of the Outreach Ministries in Coolidge. In Groesbeck, Okie planted a garden every year, and enjoyed helping friends here in any way he could. He would help the down-trodden with his last dollar and without a second thought. They acquired a new "daughter" in Groesbeck through their friendship with Rhonda Loony, a close friend of the family. "Okie" played dominoes weekly with four friends at Sidney Favor's insurance office, who were so good to him after he became ill. His best friend ever, James Gilliam, visited him every day while he was ill, and many other friends, from Mary’s Burger Barn, also visited and checked on him frequently in his illness. Billy was preceded in death by his parents, and three older brothers, H. B. Phillips, William Paul Phillips, Jr., and Roy Kenneth Phillips. He is survived by his wife, Betty Ruth Phillips of Groesbeck; daughter, Leesa Anne Phillips of Groesbeck; son, Jeffery Paul Phillips and wife Misty of Coolidge; son, Michael Owen Phillips and two daughters, Jennifer and Stacey Phillips of Lone Grove, OK; daughter, Ivana Ruth Dixon and husband Paul and twin daughters, Brooke and Brenae Dixon of Wortham; and adoped daughter, Rhonda Loony of Wortham, and her children, Dylan Martin and Sara and her husband A. J; and a brother, Norman Eugene Phillips. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in Billy's memory be made to Providence Hospice in Mexia.