 Billy R. "Bill" Gentry 22 August 1929 - 25 September 2010 Mary Evans Gentry 16 January 1933 -  
Funeral services for Billy
"Bill" Ralph Gentry, 81 year old
Leonard resident, are scheduled for 10
a.m. Tuesday September 28th at
the First Baptist Church of
Leonard. Rev. Denny Gorena will
officiate. Burial will be in the
Van Alstyne Cemetery.
Family visitation will from be 5:30
until 7:30 p.m. Monday September
27th at the Turrentine-Jackson-Morrow
Funeral Chapel at Leonard.
Bill was born August 22, 1929 at
Gunter, TX. His parents were Joe
Bailey and Leona Ragsdale
Gentry. He attended school at
Howe,
TX. From 1948 to 1950, Bill
worked in Riverdale, Kansas as a
grain truck driver. He served in
the U.S. Army from 1951 until
1953 as a sergeant in Korea.
After leaving the Army, Bill married
Mary Ella Evans June 3, 1954. He
worked at Kraft Foods in Garland
until 1964 when he joined the Plano
Fire Dept. He was in the
Plano Volunteer Fire Dept. from 1957
until 1964 where he served as Fire
Chief. When Plano formed a paid
department, he was employed with
the rank of captain. He retired
from the fire dept. in
1983. He was honored as "fireman
of the year" in 1971 and was
president of the Plano Professional
Fire-fighters Association in
1976-77. He attended Texas
A&M University and became a Texas
Fire and Arson Investigator in
1978. In 1983 he went to work
for
Plano Title Company/Title Resources
Corp., where he worked on his days
off as a computer technician, until
the time of his retirement in
1986. He and Mary moved to their
property in Leonard in 1986 and
raised cattle and traveled at least
one bus trip each year and one year
there were five trips. They
purchased a travel trailer but it was
more fun to travel with their many
friends by bus. They visited
all fifty states in the U.S. and the
District of Columbia, as well as
most of the Canadian provinces and
territories and many parts of
Mexico. Bill was a member of the
First Baptist Church of Leonard
and he really loved it and the members
of his Sunday School
Class. He served on the board of
Arledge Ridge Water Supply, the
Leonard Library Board as president
when the new library was built, the
Fannin County Appraisal Board and the
Leonard Kiwanis Club where he
served as president several times and
was voted ?outstanding member? in
1990 and 1992. He really enjoyed
the children?s Christmas program
each year. The Kiwanis Club and
the City of Leonard purchased and
installed the clock on the Leonard
Square and Bill kept it running for
many years. He was named
"Citizen of the Year" for 2001 by the
Leonard Chamber of Commerce. He
was honored with a 10-year pin
for delivering "Meals-on-Wheels" for
the Fannin County R.S.V.P.
program. He passed away
September 25th at McKinney. In
addition to his parents, he was
preceded in death by his
brother:
Lake Weldon Gentry; his sisters:
Evelyn Reynolds, Bonnie Jo
Nelson and Doris Skipworth. He
is survived by his wife and son,
Mary & Gary Gentry of Leonard and
two grandsons; one sister:
Paula Sue Skinner and her husband,
Pete, of Whitewright and by many
nieces and nephews.
Turrentine-Jackson-Morrow Funeral Home of Leonard is in charge of arrangements.  Van Alstyne Cemetery Susan Hawkins ©2025 Grayson County TXGenWeb If you find any links inoperable,please send me a message. |