Willa Mae (Billye) Minton Sudduth passed away January 21, 2025, at the age of 90. Willa Mae was born in Lubbock, Texas on March 1, 1934. Her father decided that he did not like the name, Willa, and started calling her Billye. After Billye lost both her parents at a young age, she was raised by her half-sister and brother-in-law, Crawford and Marie Holtzclaw. She also had another half-sister, Freddie Harvey. She is preceded in death by her parents, Will and Annie Minton, both of her half-sisters, and her cousins, Dewayne and Larry Holtzclaw.
She was chosen valedictorian of New Home High School in 1950 and attended Abilene Christian College for one year. Billye married Charles Sudduth in 1951. She met Charles in Anton, Texas while visiting her grandmother who lived across the street from Charles and his family.
Billye is survived by her husband of 73 years, Charles, her two daughters, Belinda (Kenny) Gardner, Charisse (Karl) Kessel, her four grandchildren, Michael (Rachel), David (Jessica), Scott, and Shannon (Patrick), and seven great-grandchildren, Judah, Kendra, Edith, Lydia, Florence, Kellan, and Enoch. She was proceeded in death by their son, Michael Don in 1960. Billye will be laid to rest next to Michael Don at Resthaven Cemetery. She is also survived by several nieces and nephews.
She was a member of the Sunset Church of Christ for many years. She was the Cradle Roll Supervisor from 1975-1978. The site of Charles and Billye’s very first house in Lubbock is now the parking lot for Sunset. From 1978 to 2001 she was the office supervisor for Country Gardens Nursery and Jenco Wholesale Nursery in Lubbock.
From 2005-2020, Billye began to do volunteer work at the Joe Arrington Cancer Center in Lubbock. She was very enthusiastic about this venture as she had undergone chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer there and could really commiserate with the patients. In 2020, she had to stop when all volunteering was cancelled due to Covid.
Billye also did extensive genealogy research for the Sudduth and Minton/Anderson families. She was very interested in this area and put together many notebooks detailing the history of both families.
Every time someone new was added to the family, Billye made them a hand-made Christmas stocking. She was almost able to finish the one for her seventh great-grandchild, but became too ill to finish it completely.
Billye requested that any donations be made to the Sunset International Bible lnstitute (SIBI) Solar Program at 3723 34th St., Lubbock, TX 79410.
Special thanks are given to Twin Rivers Assisted Living in Richardson, Texas for the care of both Charles and Billye since their move to this community in July. Their willingness to go the extra mile to help our family during the last few days of her life is also greatly appreciated.
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