Billie Louise Daniel

Billie Louise Jackson Daniel was born Dec. 19, 1921, in Hazen, Ark., to Margaret and Terrell Jackson, the third of 10 children. She received her early education in rural schools and graduated a valedictorian from Gillett High School in 1939. She attended Arkansas State Teacher's College (now UCA) in Conway, Ark., and Draughon's Business College in Little Rock, Ark. She began a teaching career, but at the onset of the War in 1941, she resigned her teaching contract and began working for Ford, Bacon & Davis; a company in Central Arkansas that manufactured detonators for the Army. Upon his return from service in the Aleutian Islands, she married Lt. Cecil Daniel on Dec. 11, 1942, at the Asbury Methodist Church in Little Rock. She accompanied her husband to Fort Lewis, Wash., where she worked for the next year at the Washington State License Department in Olympia. When her husband was deployed to the European Theater of War, she returned to Little Rock and worked for the Army Ordinance Department at Camp Robinson until the War ended. After the War, she and her husband settled in his hometown of Dexter, Kan., where she worked in the Dexter Post Office. At one point while working there she was the Acting Postmaster, while the Postmaster took an extensive vacation. In 1948, she and her husband purchased land in the Mason Valley Community of Benton County, Ark., and established a Grade A dairy farm. They lived there for 41 years, while raising their four children, a son, David, and three daughters, Anita, Ellen and Faith. Billie was active in community affairs, serving on local election boards, 21 years as a 4-H leader and 10 years on the Gentry School Board. She also was active in the Benton County Extension Homemaker Club for a number of years. In 1989, she and her husband retired to Rogers. In Rogers, she worked as a volunteer in the children's department at the Rogers Public Library until her husband's failing health required her presence at home. Billie became a Christian at an early age and was a church member for over 80 years, a Sunday school teacher for almost 50 years, a vacation Bible worker for over 40 years and was active in the Women's Mission Organizations. In her later years, she remained active in the Homebound and Prayer Ministry of her church, First Baptist Church, Rogers. She was an avid reader and published writer. She was preceded in death by her parents; six brothers, Ralph, Ted, Travis, Ray, Charles and Jerry; an infant sister, Bobby Fay; and by her beloved husband, Cecil in 1996. She is survived by her son, David and wife, Lolah, of Springdale, Ark.; daughters, Anita Gordon and husband, Jim, of Rogers, Ark., Ellen McCord of Siloam Springs, Ark., Faith Ann Wood and husband, Ed, of Barling, Ark.; brother, Connie Mack Jackson of Blanchard, La.; sister, Claudia Davis and husband, Milton, of Conway, Ark.; 10 grandchildren; 21 great-grandchildren; and a host of other family and friends. Services will be Thursday, Aug. 21, 2014, at 10 a.m. in the First Baptist Church in Rogers, 3364 Pleasant Grove Road, Rogers, Ark., conducted by Dr. Wes George, senior pastor. Burial will follow at Benton County Memorial Park. Visitation will be Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2014, from 4:30-7:30 p.m. in Rollins Funeral Home Chapel. Memorials can be made to the First Baptist Church, Building Fund. Online condolences can be made at www.rollinsfuneral.com.