Funeral services for Billie Simnacher, 99, currently of Lubbock, TX will be at 10:00 AM, Fri., Aug. 26, 2016 in the Wheeler Mortuary Chapel. Burial will follow in the Portales Cemetery with Gary Modrall, Andy Cox, Danny Crawford, Ricky Leal, Mike Luscomb, Lonnie Legleiter and Derry Lehman serving as pallbearers. The family will receive guests at the funeral home on Thursday evening from 6 to 8 PM. Following the services, light refreshments will be served at the YAM Theater where friends and family can visit. Those desiring to make memorial contributions may make their donation by credit card on our website at wheelermortuary.net or you may send them to the Parkinson's Disease Foundation, Inc., 200 SE 1st Street, Suite 800, Miami, FL 33131 or you may send a check to the charity of your choice.
Willie Faye Simnacher, known to virtually everyone as "Billie," was born Aug. 4, 1917 in Ballenger, TX to the home of Mattie Lou (Bingham) and Willie Cotter, and died Aug. 22, 2016 at her home in Lubbock, TX. As a child she rode a horse to school while her brothers walked alongside. Her family settled in the Red Lake community in southwestern Roosevelt County, and it was there that she met Mathis Simnacher. They were married in Portales on Jan. 27, 1938. For most of the remainder of her life, Billie lived in the Portales area. After having been widowed for several years, she moved from the family farm to make her home in Portales in 1989. Since 2004 she had been making her home in Lubbock with her daughter.
Billie was a dedicated wife, and mother. She was a consummate homemaker. Family members remember that she always had fresh cookies whenever someone dropped in. Billie was meticulous about her wardrobe, and loved to shop for clothes and shoes. She had been a member of St. Helen Catholic Church in Portales for 65 years. Billie was a very outgoing lady, who loved visiting with her many friends. In addition to shopping, she enjoyed playing BINGO and dominoes and sitting on her patio watching the birds and seeing her flowers. Another of her passions was reading, and in later years she enjoyed watching Wheel of Fortune.
She is survived by a son and daughter-in-law, Patrick and Rhonda Simnacher of Levelland, TX and a daughter, Linda Williams of Lubbock; a brother, Jerry Cotter of San Angelo, TX; as well as a number of other family members and many friends. She was preceded in death by her parents, seven brothers, Cliff, Doug, Joe, Clarence, Ray, Mike and Howard Cotter, and three sisters, Addie Hill, Ethel McKinnon and Rene Horton, as well as by her beloved husband, Mathis Simnacher who died June 2, 1984.