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Note: Billie Jean Steele October 15, 1927 ~ February 13, 2020 (age 92)
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Obituary
Billie Steele, 92, of Odessa, passed away on February 13, 2020 in Midland.
Memorial services will be held 4:00 PM, Saturday, February 15, 2020 at Sunset Memorial Funeral Home with Randy Unruh of Stonegate officiating.
Billie Steele was born in Mexia, Texas to George and Ethel Albertson on October 15, 1927. She went to school in Sundown. She married Jack W. Steele on July 25, 1942 in Levelland, Texas.
Billie is preceded in death by her husband, Jack W. Steele, and daughter, Carol Whitewater Dawn.
Billie is survived by her daughters, Betty Jane Steele and Norma Jean Niece and her husband Terry, as well as many beloved grandchildren and great grandchildren.
To send flowers to Billie's family, please visit our floral section.
Sat at 6:00 AM Mother's (Billie) memories: When she was 2 years old, George W, Ethel, Dub, Bub, and Billie (her) lived in Mexia, Texas (according to 1930 census. Jeff's (Jefferson Davis, Annie Huey {Ethel Huey's sister}, and children) family also lived there. Jeff and Geo worked in the oilfield on drilling rigs. Billie was born there and started school there in Mexia - about 1934. They followed the oil field from there (and Gladewater) to Oklahoma City. They had very little money and camped and cooked out on the way to OK. At one point, They had a flat tire and Dub, the eldest son, walked ... rolling the tire, to the nearest town to have it fixed. He returned with his bare feet blistered from the effort. After doing reasonably well in Oklahoma City, they bought a small tract house, where they lived for awhile. It was not one of the better parts of town. There was a father and three sons down the street. One Easter, he and his kids were coloring eggs with shoe polish - all they had. Mother remembers Granny taking them some colored eggs. They still traveled with Jeff and his family. Jeff and Geo were brothers, and Ethel and Jeff's wife, Anne were sisters. The children - double cousins - were all very close and remained so until their deaths. Tha lived in a new small, tract house in Oklahoma City. It was a lease/Company house. They had enough money to get a some new furniture. Ethel, Billie's mother also got a pressure cooker for canning vegtables. While living there, Granny (Ethel) won a set of Fiesta dinnerware. It was a prized possession. When they moved again Ethel would not give up her cooker. She had it for the rest of her life. Some of the dinnerware lasted through the years. After Oklahoma they moved to Denver City/Bennett, Texas, and from there to Eunice, New Mexico. In Eunice they again lived in company tract houses. Jeff and his family remained in Eunice. George and his family moved to Sundown Texas (8 miles west) into another company house. There he was a 'pumper', a much better (and less dangerous) job than working on a drilling rig. Their home was 8 miles West of Sundown on a ranch run by Jake Middleton. I don't remember who owned it. Long after George retired, they bought and moved their small company house into Sundown. They lived on the edge of town, the town boundry, so they could keep animals just outside the town limits. Billie Jean began her life in Mexia Texas on 15 Oct 1927. Her parents were George Washington Albertson and Ethel May Huey Albertson. George's brother Jefferson Davis and his wife Annie Irene Huey Albertson, Ethel Huey's sister were close neighbors as well as relatives. There were three siblings in Billie's family and five children in Jeff and Anne's family. The cousins were close playmates and friends growing up. Her family and extended family lived in Limestone County until her early school days. Billie had bright red hair. Through much of their life, her husband called her Redhead - for obvious reasons. It was in in Sundown High School that she and Jack Steele met. They married on 25 Jul 1942 before Jack went into the service. For a short time they lived in a converted railroad car. After Jack was drafted she continued to live in Sundown with her parents. In July 1943 she and Jack had their first child, Carol Ann, the first grandchild of George and Ethel, Billie's parents, and of Dora Steele, Jack's mother. Jack was away when Carol was born. When Carol was about 3 months old Billie and Carol took the train to South Carolina to be near Jack. When he went overseas, Billie and Carol returned to Sundown. After the war (WWII) Jack found employment in the oilfield. Drilling rigs move from site to site to drill for oil. Jack and his family followed the rigs, moving often throughout Texas and New Mexico oil fields. They lived in a nearby town, Levelland Texas. They lived in two different houses there. One was a small white house near the First Baptist Church. In 1948, and living in a small duplex, they had their second child, Betty Jane Steele. In about 1949 they bought their first mobil home. It became much easier for Billie and Jack to move from place to place - 3 to 5 times a year, as they followed the rigs. In 1951 they moved to Odessa and lived in a large trailer park on the south side. Not long before their third child, Norma Jean Steele was born in March 1954, they bought a nice, new, brick home in Odessa, Texas. The company Jack worked for, John Drilling Company, had their main office there. Odessa was where they settled. Jack had worked his way up through the company ranks into management. At his death he was Vice President of the company. All through the years the Albertson and Steele families remained close. Each of the children, JW, Walter, and Billie married and had children - always returning to Sundown and the grandparents for holidays and family gatherings. Billie was what we now call a "stay at home mom". Her children called her Mother and knew that she would always be there when they needed her - or didn't know they needed her. She was a full time, supportive wife and mother who took her job seriously and excelled at her unpaid and under appreciated work. She packed and unpacked through each move, cleaned, washed clothes, prepared meals, and generally took care of everyone. When her parents were aged and in ill health, she cared for them. After 47 Years of marriage in 1989 Jack Steele died. Billie Jean married a second time. He was Kelley Kearney and he died in 2002. After his death, Billie continued to live in the house she and Jack had bought in Odessa, Texas in 1954.
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