Billie Barbara Duncan
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Billie Barbara (Hickey) Duncan, age 93, resident of Waterview Assisted Living, Granbury, Texas, passed away peacefully on January 6, 2021. She had been in declining health in recent months.
Billie was the daughter of Ned Perry Hickey and Myrdine (Edwards) Hickey. She was born July 28, 1927 in Powell Field, Reagan County, Texas. Her family relocated to Monahans, Texas in 1940, where Billie attended Monahans schools. Billie graduated from Monahans High School in 1943. In High School, Billie had a special interest in classes related to business management which would lead in later years to a career in Business. She was also in the MHS band and played the clarinet.
When the Hickey family moved to Monahans in 1940, Billie's dad started a store on west Main Street producing and selling retread automobile tires. Her mother opened a Beauty Shop by adding a room to their home in west Monahans.
During her high school years, Billie met her future husband, Milton L. Duncan, MHS class of 1941. Milton had recently returned from duty as an aircraft radio operator in the U. S. Army Air Corps. He and his older brother, Baxter, joined the Air Corps shortly after December 7, 1941 following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. During World War II, Milton served overseas in the China/Burma/India theater. Billie and Milton were married February 22, 1946.
After marriage, Billie began employment at the Ward County Tax Assessor-Collector office at the court house, and was later employed at the First National Bank as secretary to the bank president. During these years of employment at the Tax Office and Bank, Billie began college courses at Odessa College on a part-time basis. She later transferred from Odessa College to Sul Ross University in Alpine and graduated from Sul Ross in 1966 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. In 1972 Billie completed a Masters Degree in Business Administration from Sul Ross University.
Milton took a job as the butcher in a small grocery store in Monahans. They lived in an apartment at the rear of the store. Milton later began working for Gulf Oil Company at a gasoline plant north of the nearby town of Wickett. A few years later they bought a house on Dwight Street in the southeast side of downtown Monahans.
Milton started attending Texas Tech University in Lubbock, with funding from the GI Bill and majored in Petroleum Engineering. During his college years, he worked part time teaching math at a High School in Anton, TX outside of Lubbock.
After graduation from Tech in 1959, Milton took a job in Odessa with Forrest Oil Company as a Petroleum Engineer, designing and installing Forest's tanking and piping systems in the Permian Basin area. Milton and Billie moved from Monahans to Odessa in 1966. He later developed an interest in photography, both in taking 35 mm photos and in dark room development of the pictures. Milton studied and learned the new technology of quick processing photo development and soon opened a Fast-Photo Developing business in Odessa in 1979. He named it D&D Photo.
Billie was active in the National Business Educators Association (NBEA) at both the state and national level, serving as state President from 1989-1990 in Austin, TX. Billie taught at Permain High School for 4 years before moving on to the Business Department at Odessa College where she taught and retired after 30 years.
Billie always was a member of the Church of Christ wherever she lived, in Monahans and in Odessa at the 6th and Jackson congregation.
She traveled for 20 years all through Europe and spent many weeks in Ruidoso, NM every summer. Billie enjoyed 2 bridge groups, volunteered after retirement at both hospitals in Odessa, and enjoyed china painting for 20 years.
The family gives a special Thank You to the caregivers at Waterview Assisted Living and to Hospice Interim Healthcare. The family is especially appreciative of the service of their good friend, Debbie Spencer, Billie's nurse.
Billie is survived by her daughter, Jamie Bradshaw of Poquoson, VA and her grandson Troy Russom and wife, Sandy of Lipan, TX. Along with two great granddaughters: Morgan and Kirsten of Ft Worth, TX. and three nieces: Kay Manning of Celina TX, Lisa Witkowski of Ft. Worth TX, and Cathy Lowenberg of Austin, TX.
Billie was preceded in death by her brother, G. B. Hickey, her father, Ned Hickey, her mother, Myrdine Hickey, and her husband of 59 years, Milton L. Duncan.