Artistic talent ran in his family. His mother was an established china designer and painter, and Billy was spending much time at an easel even as a young teenager. After completing high school, Billy enlisted in the Navy in 1941 and spent 4 years during WWII in the South Pacific on the battleship USS Colorado.
Following military service, Billy studied at the Kansas City Art Institute where his artwork became a permanent and important part of his life. He exercised his artistic tendencies for many years working in advertising design for the local newspaper, The Wichita Eagle, and later as an Ad Exec with an advertising firm in Topeka, Kansas for 20 years until his retirement.
Through the friendship of one of his Navy shipmates, Billy met and married a farmer’s daughter from Newton, Kansas in 1946. He and Lola Faye raised 4 sons and 1 daughter in Wichita, Kansas. Faye passed away in 2010, and Billy is survived by three sons: Tony (and Carol) in Sausalito, California, Monte (and Susan) in Beaverton, Oregon, and Matthew in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
A memorial service will be held at 2:30pm on July 11, 2021, at Finley-Sunset Hills Mortuary and Memorial Park, 6801 SW Sunset Hwy, Portland, OR 97225. Friends and relatives are encouraged to attend this celebration of Billy’s life.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.finleysunsethills.com for the Garrett family.
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