Funeral services for Billy E. “Bill” Black, age 85, of Brownwood, will be held at 2:00 PM, Saturday, April 24, 2010 at First Baptist Church.  Burial with Masonic rites will follow in the Oakview Cemetery in Mullin under the direction of Davis-Morris Funeral Home.  The family will receive friends at the funeral home on Friday evening from 6:00 until 8:00.

Mr. Black died Tuesday, April 20, 2010 in Brownwood.

Bill was born on May 18, 1924 in Desdemona to W. B. and Minnie Jenkins Black.  He attended Mullin schools and graduated from Texas Tech University with a Bachelor of Science in petroleum geology.  Bill was self employed as a geologist.  Bill was member of Brownwood Masonic Lodge No. 279, the Waco Scottish Rite Body, and the Suez Shrine Temple of San Angelo.   He was also a longtime member of First Baptist Church of Brownwood.

Bill is survived by his wife Crystal of Brownwood, their children, Chad and Lora Simpson of Clarendon, John and Glenda Gast of Mineral Wells, and Amy Polito of Mineral Wells; grandchildren, Alysse and
Malerie Simpson of Clarendon, Emma and Abby Gast of Mineral Wells, and Hannah Polito of Mineral Wells, cousins, Barney and Betty Johnson of Abilene and many other cousins in Brown and Mills county.
Bill was preceded in death by his parents, his first wife, Lura B. Black, and a son, Gary Black.

The family requests that memorials be made to the Shriner’s hospitals of Houston and Galveston or to the Lymphoma and Myeloma Center at MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Condolences can be left for the family at www.davismorrisfuneralhome.com