Billie Wilson McFadden

Billie Wilson McFadden, born in Thomasville, AL on May 13th 1925 to James and Amanda Findley McFadden went to meet his creator on July 10, 2023. He was the youngest of twelve children. Growing up he was a dutiful member of Williams’ Temple CME in Thomasville and after moving to Prichard as an adult, he united with First Missionary Baptist Church of Prichard where he has been a member for over seventy years. He served down through the years in various capacities: choir member, finance committee member, superintendent of the Baptist Training Union, and deacon.

His high school education at Miller’s Ferry was interrupted by the war. He was drafted in August of 1943, inducted in 1944 in Camp Shelby, MS and went through basic training in the mechanized cavalry in Fort Riley, Kansas. From Kansas, he went to Fort Huachuca, Arizona where he became part of the 92nd Buffalo Division. His battalion was dispatched to Italy and faced combat. Half of the men in his company were killed. In an interview in 2006 he recalled that they buried a lot of American soldiers in Italy. He earned several medals: WWII Victory Medal, National Defense Service medal, Combat Infantryman Badge 1st Award, Honorable Service Lapel Button WWII, Marksmanship Badge with Carbine Rifle Bar, Bronze Star Medal, Good Conduct Medal, American Campaign Medal and European-African, Middle-Eastern Campaign Medal with 2 Bronze Service Stars.

After the war, he caught a bus home from Birmingham in 1946. He returned back to Miller’s Ferry and finished high school. From there he attended Tuskegee Institute.

Sometime in the early 1950s he met a young teacher who was working in Thomasville. Sparks flew and in 1952 he married the late Lillie Mae Powe. In 1953 feeling the pressure to support an expanding family, Billie left Tuskegee and got a job as an aircraft mechanic at Brookley AFB in Mobile. After Brookley phased out, he became the broker of McFadden Realty, a company started by his brother Thomas. After Thomas moved to Greensboro, N. C., Billie continued the company until his retirement in 2013 at the age of 88. In his latter years he affiliated with a local organization lead by Mr. Eddie Irby, 92nd Infantry Division Buffalo Soldiers WWII.

Billie and Lillie’s union nurtured and raised three children: Griselda, Alesia and David. Their marriage lasted forty-eight years, ending with the passing of Lillie in 2000.

He was preceded in death by his parents, James and Amanda McFadden, his wife, Lillie Mae Powe McFadden and his siblings, Andrew, George, Hatdix, Charles, Beatrice, Sherman, Alice, Fred, Rosetta, Willie and Thomas. He has now joined them.

He leaves behind to cherish his memory and celebrate his life three loving children: Griselda (Samuel) White, Alesia (Terry) Williams, David (Carla) McFadden, three granddaughters, Daphney McFadden (Courtney) Johnson-Shaw, Destiny and Derica McFadden and one great grandson, Connor Dillion Johnson-Shaw. Sister-in-law, Elease Collins Powe, two brothers-in-law, Van (JoAnn) Powe and Clifford (Merolyn) McGadney; family friends, Martha ‘George and Eddie Irby, surrogate daughter, Rochelle Thompson Sims and a loving and dutiful friend, Mary J. Glover. He was a loving and caring uncle to his many nieces and nephews. He felt great pride in being their “Uncle Billie.”

Thanks to the entire Gentiva (Kindred) Hospice team, especially Sharon, Jessica, and the late Desiree McCracken who supported Daddy and the family with loving support during this closing chapter of his life.