William Southerland

FORT WORTH -- Bill I. Southerland Jr.,82, passed away January 13,2016 in Fort Worth. Funeral: 11AM Monday at Shannon Rose Hill Funeral Chapel. Burial: Shannon Rose Hill Cemetery. Bill was born October 12,1933 in Grayson county, to the late Catherine Spurlock Southerland and Dr. William I. Southerland. A graduate of Sherman High School in 1952, Bill went on to study business accounting at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas. Because of the on going Korean War conflict, Bill felt the need to serve his country and enlisted with the US Marine Corp. in 1953. After he completed Marine Corp. boot-camp and additional training at Camp Pendleton in California, he deployed to Korea, arriving just after the ceasefire armistice treaty with communist North Korea was signed. After completing his overseas tour of duty, he met up with his high school sweet-heart, Elizabeth (Betsy) Williams, while on leave in Sherman, and got engaged to her. They married and after Bill completed his Marine Corp enlistment, both of them moved to Los Angeles, California where Bill worked as an accountant clerk for a steamship company. It was while he and his wife Betsy were living in Los Angeles, that their first son was born. A year later the young family all packed up and moved back to Sherman, where his next 2 children, both girls, were born. Needing to look for better job opportunities, the family moved to Dallas. Bill started working for Rockwell Collins as a machinist for several decades. It was during this time his last child was born, a boy. Later on, Bill moved on from Rockwell Collins in Richardson, to work for Otis Oil and Gas Company, a subsidiary of Halliburton, in Dallas, as an fabrication pipe inspector. Later in his early retirement years Bill continued working, this time as a Dart van driver to help with assisting disabled people to get around. Bill's favorite hobby was camping in the Colorado and Nevada mountains, exploring old ghost towns in the boom-bust gold mining districts, while his grandchildren tagged along. Bill is survived by his two sons, Scott and Edward Southerland; two daughters, Cathy Espinal and Elizabeth Southerland; as well as five grandchildren.