Bill Ed Talley

Bill Ed Talley was born on December 14, 1931 in his ranch home in Camp Wood, Texas to Robert Carlton Talley and Addie May (Connell) Talley. He was the youngest boy of seven children. He learned to hunt and fish at an early age. Being raised during the great depression years, he was taught early on about how to be the hands and feet of Jesus when his parents would bring home people less fortunate to eat food prepared from the large garden that his family grew!

He attended Uvalde High School where he was known as “Tarzan Talley” since he was the shortest on the basketball team yet could jump the highest in which he would hang on to the rim and dangle his legs in the air! He met the love of his life during those years, and Meta Louise (Mogford) Talley would later become his wife of now 62 years after they graduated from college. Some of her fondest memories are just how handsome he looked in his peach corduroy shirt on their first date and the times he would come into her dad’s Western Auto store to make a purchase. She also says he was a wonderful dancer!

He was the only child in his family to attend college, and he worked the entire time to pay his way through. He attended Southwest Texas and then the University of Texas at Austin where he graduated with a degree in Business Management. He and Meta both have that “burnt-orange blood” and became lifetime Texas Alumni! They attended many of the Longhorn sporting events and were season football ticket holders for over 50 years. Some of their fondest memories were traveling up to Omaha to the College Baseball World Series and to many Football Bowl games in which Texas played including the 2006 National Championship football game played in the Rose Bowl! Hook ‘Em Horns!

He volunteered for the draft and entered the United States Army in 1955 and served for some time in Germany. He and a buddy once “borrowed” an officer’s jeep and took it for a joy ride! He was Honorable Discharged in 1957.

Bill Ed trained with Mobile Oil Corporation and became a distributor in Falfurrias, Tx. He purchased a warehouse in which he also sold many gasoline and oil products along with running a tire sales business for over 35 years. He began a hobby of raising cattle which later became T&R Cattle Co. in which he continued to raise and sell Registered Brahman cattle for over 50 years. He was known as the “Cattleman with the white cattle!”

The Talley’s are long-time, dedicated members of the First United Methodist Church in Falfurrias. Many of their fondest memories are in their love for serving God and the community through the church.

Bill Ed had a love for hunting and fishing and enjoyed the friendships of many through these adventures! He traveled to many places like his brother’s fishing camp in Alaska, to Canada, New Mexico, places in West Texas, Mexico, and to Honduras where he had fun camping, cooking, fishing and hunting in God’s beautifully created outdoors! Thank you, friends, for “waiting on Talley” and putting up with his many fun pranks through the years! (I’m certain as his daughter, I’m probably not supposed to hear about all of that fun!)

He also enjoyed many years of supporting the community of Falfurrias through his volunteering and membership in the Rotary Club. He has also served on the Utility Board and Bank Board for many years. His family especially remembers the fabulous “Pancake Supper Fundraisers” in which all the men cooked to support our community!

It’s oh so hard to say goodbye for now, but we will rejoice in Heaven with Jesus when we meet again!

Bill reunited in Heaven with his parents and all his siblings.

His immediate family are Meta Louise Talley, his wife of 62 years, and his only daughter, Lori Lea Talley Corse, and her husband, George Corse. He has a granddaughter, Kelly Louise Scott Strickland and her husband, Tyler Strickland, from Colorado and his grandson, Brian Robert Scott from Katy, Tx. He also has three step/bonus grandkids and they are Kayley Raley, Lindsay Armstrong and Noah Corse.