Billy Joe Earp, a retired comercial painting company owner, died Tuesday. He was 45 years old.
A celebration of Billy Earp's life was held Saturday at a family residence. He was cremated in Tulsa,Oklahoma, Tulsa county.
Earp was born Dec. 14, 1959, to Deloris (Glover) and William B. "Bill" Earp in Greenville, Texas.
At age 16 he began painting houses in his spare time to earn money.
In the 1980s, he started and sold four commercial painting companies in Houston; Nashvill, Tenn.; Fresno, Calif.; and Tulsa.
His companies painted and fabricated offices, prisons, theaters, National Gaurd facilities, and commercial and industrial buildings.
In 1989, Earp moved from Tulsa to Broken Arrow to become a law enforcement officer. Something he believed was part of his family legacy.
In 1992, Earp left the Broken Arrow Police Department and returned to California to live near his mother and family.
Once there, he began working for William B. Saleh Co., where he regulaly supervised 100-employe commercial contract painting teams for large-scale industrial and commercial painting operations.
He moved to Tulsa in 2004 after receiving an on-the-job injury but soon returned to California after being diagnosed with with a terminal illness.
He returned to Tulsa in February.
Billy Joe Earp was preceded in death by his Mother , Deloris "Glover" Earp and His Father, William B. "Bill" Earp and one sister Cara Renee Earp.
He is survived by his wife, Sandi Earp of Tulsa; His daughter, Nicole Earp of Travis Air Force base in Fairfield, Calif.; his son, Philip Earp of Tulsa; his step daughter, Monica Hendricks of Tulsa; three brothers, Rodger, Jerry and Jason Earp, all of Tulsa; and his sister, Kristi Reid of Chico, Calif.
Memorial contributions can be made to the American Lung Association of American Cancer Society.