Billye A Hayward

Billye was born November 6, 1918 to Anna Parsley Abee and Walter Alexander Abee. Her dad left her mom shortly after Billye was born. Anna and Billye then moved in with her parents Grandma and Grandpa Parsley. Billye was Grandpa Parsley’s pride and joy and Billye thought he was the greatest man around and went everywhere she could with him. Billye thus formed an admiration for talking business with men. Anna worked for a pharmacy in Swifton, Arkansas and Billye helped with the magazines at the store. Billye worked at the college cafeteria and several others jobs to pay for her college in Wyoming. She received her Master’s Degree in Elementary Education on August 18, 1961 from the University of Wyoming in Laramie. She taught school for 20 years both in Rawlins and Eugene Oregon. It was in Rawlins that she met and married James Lewis Hayward on May 5, 1951. Jim and Billye loved to dance and spent most of their Saturday nights at dances. Billye was a speed-reader and was always reading something from The Wall Street Journal to Science of the Mind and just about anything in between. Many times she would go with Jim on his fishing trips and while he was fishing, she would either be reading or typing documents. Upon her retirement from teaching she became a Real Estate agent and sold lots of Mel and Nita Parks homes that they had built in Eugene Oregon, forming a friendship that lasted until her death. In 1984 Billye suffered a heart attack and thereafter was always concerned about exercise. She grew to love walking up and down stairs. Even when she had to use a walker, this did not deter her from walking stairs. Billye always said a prayer before she ever took off in her car. In June of 1990 Jim & Billye moved to Springfield to help take care of her parents, Ben and Anna Cox and Aunt Laura Parsley. Billye was always finding some way to make money. She played the stock market, owning stocks of many kinds, and various other investments. She always encouraged all that she talked to that they should put 10% of all monies they save back to invest with. She was a frantic about sweepstakes and lottery. She look forward to the latest Publishers Clearing House contest and just knew she would win it. She loved to travel and the trip she talked about the most was the trip she & Jim went on around the world, and she wanted to go again. She and Mari Lee went to the Robert Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral in California in 2006, a trip they both enjoyed tremendously. Billye really wanted to go to see the Science of the Mind building, but time restraints didn’t allow this to happen. She started a tradition in the Hayward family of giving each newborn child a red felt stocking with a sequin tree on it. This tradition is still carried on in the Hayward family. She was a lover of children, her favorite dog Juno and cats. She had long beautiful hair that she worn in a bun until her later years when she could no longer take care of it. She was rarely found without one of her favorite hats, and lipstick. She was preceded in death by her Grandparents; Mom, Anna Cox; Step Father, Ben Cox; Husband, Jim on April 29,1996; Brothers-in-law, Ward Dee Hayward and Leo Hayward; Sister-in-law, Lola Hayward; Aunt Laura Parsley and niece Lori C. Adams. Those mourning her passing are: sister-in-law, Claudette Hayward; several nieces, nephews, special friends Lavona Hoover, Mari Lee Freiberger, Mark Schmidt and neighbors.