William Ervin Wallace

William E. "Bill" Wallace William Ervin "Bill" Wallace, 76, passed away Sunday, January 29, 2006 at a local hospital. Funeral services will be at 2:00 pm on Saturday, February 4, 2006 at The Hamil Family Funeral Home, 6449 Buffalo Gap Road. Visitation will be from 5:00 to 7:00 pm on Friday at the funeral home. Bill was born on October 15, 1929 in Levelland, Hockley Texas to Joseph and Wilma Wallace. He was the oldest of five children. As a child, he attended school in Leaday and later transferred to Ballinger, Texas where he played football for the Bearcats. After high school he joined the Marines Corp where he played football for the Far East Command unit. During his tour of duty, he served in the Korean War and spent time on Guam and in Communist China. He received the Presidential Unit citation, UN Service Medal and Ribbon and Korean Service Medal with three stars. Upon discharge from the Marines, he went to work in the oilfields of West Texas before joining his father as a blacksmith and welder in Haskell, Texas. It was during this time that he met then married Cynthia Russell of Haskell. They were married on July 1, 1960 in Abilene, Texas. They moved to Seminole, Texas where he returned to work in the oilfield. While in Seminole, Bill and Cynthia had two daughters, Rebecca Ann (Becky) and Linda Kay. They returned to the Big County area where he worked for Phillips 66 in Ballinger, Texas. The family moved to Seymour in the fall of 1970 where he resided until 1984. While in Seymour, he was active in the I OO F Lodge and owned Wallace Wrecker Service. It was during this time that he began his 31-year tenure with U-Haul. During his 20 years at U-Haul of West Texas, he worked in many different areas of the company. At the time of his retirement, he was an equipment transfer driver. This allowed him to do something that he loved....travel. Bill and Cynthia made several trips driving from coast to coast and border to border. In the summer of 1999, he took on a new role—he became "PawPaw" to grand-twins--Jaeleigh Elizabeth and John William, "Will". As soon as they were big enough to travel it became his mission to "put them in the ocean" at least once a year. Of course, this just gave him an excuse to take himself to the ocean. This tradition continued up until the summer of 2005. He enjoyed spending time with his family, never passing on a chance to go see his daughters. Another thing he enjoyed was the family's annual "Crawfish Boil" held every April at Becky's house. He was the only one that could judge just the right time to put the crawfish in the water. Bill is survived by his wife, Cynthia of Abilene, two daughters, Becky Wallace and her husband Randy of Arlington, Linda Bull and her husband Zeke of Burleson; one sister, Joveta Harvey of Abilene; and his grand-twins, Jaeleigh and Will Bull of Burleson.