Billy Lancaster

Funeral services for Billy Lee “Bill” Lancaster, 84, West Plains, Missouri, will be held at 2:00 p.m., Wednesday, November 4, 2015, at First Church of God, under the direction of Robertson-Drago Funeral Home.

Mr. Lancaster passed away at 8:25 a.m., Saturday, October 31, 2015, at Brooke Haven Health Care.

He was born April 8, 1931, at Koshkonong, Missouri, to William Everett Lancaster and Kellie Stephens Lancaster. He attended Christie School in the Wayside Community and then later attended Koshkonong High School until the death of his father in 1948 when Bill was a junior.   On December 4, 1952, he was married at Columbia, Missouri, to Shirley Anderson.  The couple returned to the family dairy farm to start their family and had three children, Donald, Dennis and Charlotte.  In 1965, the family moved to West Plains where Bill worked for thirty-three years, until his retirement, delivering gasoline and fuel oil to residents and gas stations all over south-central Missouri and northern Arkansas.  Bill enjoyed living in the rural Ozarks, gardening, working in his yard, traveling and serving at church.  He loved being with his family, especially during the holidays, camping at Alley Spring and making memories with his immediate and extended family.  He openly chose Jesus as his Savior and attended First Church of God for many years, where he had many wonderful friends.  Bill made many friends over the years, simply because he was kind, loving, humble and accepted people for who they were.

He is survived by his wife, Shirley Lancaster; three children, Donald Lancaster and wife, Janet, Dennis Lancaster and wife, Rita and Charlotte Kimball; seven grandchildren, D. Lancaster and wife, Shelley, Seth Lancaster and wife, Elizabeth, Leslie Lancaster, Kori Lancaster, Nicholas Lancaster, Kaleb Kimball and KeAndra Kimball; six great-grandchildren, D. W., Faith, Quinton, Mollie, Jude and Nora Lancaster; one brother-in-law, Vernon Anderson and wife, Jo; and several nieces and nephews.

His parents, two sisters, Burneice Swope and Eva Dixon, three brothers, Courtney, Curtis and Quinten Lancaster, and an infant brother and sister, precede him in death.

Visitation will be held from 6:00 until 8:00 p.m., Tuesday, at Robertson-Drago Funeral Home.  Burial will be in the Wayside Cemetery.  Memorial contributions may be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital or Shaw Cancer Treatment Center, and may be left at Robertson-Drago Funeral Home.