Billie Don Parsons was born December 5th, 1935, the sixth of seven children born to William and Helen (Elshere) Parsons. He attended grade school at Hardingrove country school in Milesville and graduated from Philip High School in 1954.

August 18, 1956 he was united in marriage to Connie Mae Morgan. Story has it that he was parked in front of the theater in Philip one afternoon when Connie and her mother Laura Morgan walked out, he stopped them and asked Connie if she would like to attend the dance in Midland that evening. Her mother approved and that set in motion a relationship that resulted in a marriage that lasted 8 months and 18 days short of 70 years. To this union were born four children, Brad, Grant, Glenn and Marla.

He loved farming and ranching and though he had a broad range of interests, he never considered doing anything else. At the age of 14 he and his brothers assumed operation of the farm due to his father’s passing from a farm accident. He owned and operated several ranches before purchasing his current ranch on Plumb Creek in 1968. Feeding cattle was something he truly enjoyed, and you could set your watch by the time he started feeding in the mornings.

Billie was active in FFA (Future Farmers of America) until he aged out of the program at 21. At the national FFA convention in Kansas City, Kansas, in 1957, he was selected as the Regional Star Farmer for the central region of the US and congratulated by then President Harry Truman.

Family was very important to him and he had an impeccable memory of little things the kids or grandkids did or said. He marveled at their accomplishments and would recount them many times over.

Although his first love was farming and ranching, he had a creative bend, eventually securing five patents and two copy rights. These included, a hydraulic resistance exercise bike, a hydraulic resistance stair stepper, an exhaust heat shield for open air tractor mufflers, a portable protein block feeder for cattle and a grain drill mounted rod weeder that dramatically improved production and weed control in wheat. He and his son Brad even created and registered a board game called the “Pro Rodeo Game”, patterned after the rodeo circuit and national finals. Marketing was always elusive, but his heart was really on the ranch anyway.

It was well known that he had a rather significant dislike of computers, especially when they were part of a tractor; that he always had a “dinner napkin” in his pocket for a grease rag; that almost every conversation longer than five minutes incorporated a few political observations and being late was as close as you could get to a cardinal sin.

He loved the Lord Jesus Christ and wasn’t afraid to share the reason with others.

Billie is survived by his wife Connie and their four children, Brad (Wendy) Parsons of Visalia CA, Grant (Sandra) Parsons of Milesville, Glenn (Dianne) Parsons of Philip, and Marla (Kyle) Petersen of Dazey North Dakota; nine grandchildren; 21 great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandchild; two sisters Doris Berry of Philip and Leah (James) Waddell of Sioux Falls; sisters-in-law Joanne Parsons of Rapid City, and Janice Parsons of Milesville.

He was preceded in death by his parents; an infant son; grandson Kirk Parsons; three brothers Dean, Boyd, Bart; and one sister Mary Slovek.

Visitation will be held at the Milesville Hall from 5-7 Tuesday the 6th of January with a short service to follow.

Funeral services will be held at the Milesville Hall Wednesday the 7th of January at 2 PM with internment at the Milesville cemetery following the service.

In lieu of flowers, a local memorial has been established.