Bill, or Dale as he was affectionately known to his family, was born in Memphis, Texas on June 30, 1945 to Ernest Lee and Sarah (McQueen) Kilgore. He grew up with his brother David and the greatest collection of cousins and friends a Texas town could ever assemble. He met his high school sweetheart, Gayle Hadaway, at 16, married her 3 years later, and spent the rest of his life adoring her, his children Tracy (Kilgore) and Donald Bugg, and Stephen and Donna Kilgore and his beautiful, wonderful grandchildren, Meagan, Ashley, Alexis, Sarah, Emily, Bryant, Cameron and Caden and two great-grandchildren. He cherished his entire family of aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, cousins, nieces and nephews and delighted in spending time with as many of them as possible whenever he could. His family was his world.
Dale proudly served in the US Airforce for 7 years as a navigator serving two tours in the Vietnam conflict and attained the rank of Captain. He graduated from Texas Tech where he was a member of the Goin’ Band from Raiderland (Wreck ‘Em!). He truly loved music. He often played trumpet while his beautiful wife played piano and sang. He enjoyed listening to old country music and driving fast cars, especially corvettes. Most importantly, he treasured his church and his friends that he was honored to serve with. He was a member of First Baptist Church in Odessa for almost 40 years, a proud trumpet player in the orchestra for 35 years, a Sunday School teacher to hundreds of children, and served in countless other ministries and capacities over the years. He loved helping others and sharing his time and talents and was especially passionate about sharing his faith in Jesus Christ with those around him.
He was loved by everyone who knew him, and he will be greatly missed by us all. Even so, we rest in the knowledge that he’s in heaven with his mom, dad and brother and our other loved ones who’ve gone on before us, playing his trumpet and praising our Lord and Savior, and awaiting the day we will be with him again.
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