Billie Marie Jones Morris

Billie Marie Jones was born October 4, 1930, to Jessie Lee Key Jones and Jeff Davis Jones in San Marcos TX. She had an older sister, Peggy, 14 months her senior, who pre-deceased her. In June 1941 her family moved to Corpus Christi TX. She graduated from high school in Corpus Christi in 1947 and entered Baylor University in Waco TX that same year.

During her senior year in Baylor she met David B. Morris, a ministerial student, and they were married on Sept. 2, 1950. After receiving her BA Degree she followed her husband to Fort Worth where he studied theology then to Greeley CO, Kimball NE and Denver CO where he pastored in small mission churches for the Southern Baptist Convention. During this time she gave birth to five children, Jeff in 1951, Becky in 1952, Mike in 1954, Eric in 1955 and Melani in 1958. She taught high school English for 3 years and worked at any other job she could find during this time. She and her husband were divorced in 1960.

Billie was 29 at the time and her 5 children ranged in ages from 2 ½ to 8. She and the children moved to Lancaster TX where she was faced with the task of raising five children. She worked in Dallas in a variety of jobs and in 1962 her parents moved to Lancaster to help care for the children. Shortly thereafter she accepted a job as a saleswoman with Hollister, a company based in Chicago who sold supplies to hospitals. She drove a territory consisting of North Texas, Oklahoma and the Western 1/3rd of Arkansas. This job kept her on the road for long periods of time and, were it not for the help of her parents, particularly her mother, she could not have managed.

She later left Hollister, moved to Austin with a company as Manager of their Hospital Sales Division then to Houston, when her section was acquired by a company in Houston. She no longer had to drive a territory but now had to fly one, which consisted of the entire United States. She later worked in Milwaukee WI and Nacogdoches TX. She joined Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield in NYC in 1986 and retired in 1996. Following retirement she moved to Granbury TX where she had a wonderful life until age and health problems necessitated a move to Brookdale Santa Fe in October 2008. At Brookdale she participated in the Art and Writing Classes and thoroughly enjoyed both. She also chaired the Resident Council for one year. Her time there was a wonderful, relaxing ending to a very busy life.

She is survived by her five children, Jeff and his wife Karen, Becky (Rebecca Bolen, PhD), Michael and his wife Beverly, Eric and his wife Julie and Melani and her husband, Brian Jolly. She is also survived by twelve grandchildren, Justin and Matthew (Jeff), Erin and Jenny (Becky), Jesse and Travis (Michael), Sarah, Tyler, Sammy and Logan (Eric), and Brock and Brant (Melani). She is also survived by five great granddaughters and one great grandson.

Donations can be made to The Down Syndrome Ohana of Hawaii ( https://dsohawaii.com/ ) or The National Down Syndrome Society (https://www.ndss.org/) which is a 501c3 so the donations can be deducted).