Tuesday, January 1, 2013
We were house parents at Bethel Bible School from the summer of 1963 to the summer of 1967. We were house parents to the 27 boys right after the Wooten family came to Bethel. James and Billy were in our dorm and Betty Ann was in the girls' dorm. It was our joy and honor to be their house parents for four years and to stay in contact with them mainly through the Bethel homecomings. It was great to see Billy last year, meet some of his children and see him doing great. You could not help but like Billy, he was outgoing and caring. We remember fondly when Mrs. Mc was expecting our third child and he was one of the boys who told her don't you have a girl, we do not want any girls in our boys' dorm. We came back from the hospital with a little girl. Those boys, especially Billy, welcomed our little Becky into the boys' dorm. Billy often was carrying her around and kissing her on her little fat checks. We loved Billy and it was a joy to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with him and all the boys. In those days we played a lot of ball. Billy was a good athelete playing on our teams. He was alway a scrapper, playing hard and wanting to win. When he went through some hard times, he would call me and we would talk. I was proud of him and he came through those tough days. Billy with his whole family has a permanent place in our hearts. Dear family, we did not hear about his death until Monday night while I was at work. He will be missed but not forgotten; we love those of you that we know and the family we do not know we love you because you are Billy Ray's family. May you find God's love and peace in Jesus Christ. Love and prayers, Mr. and Mrs. Mc.
