Billy ("Doodlebug") was born, raised, and passed away in Granville County.  He was 73 years of age.  He served his country by serving in the Army until 1963.  Then he spent the rest of his life serving his community.  He worked as a mechanic for several years and continued even after it was no longer his regular job.  He worked as a firefighter with the Creedmoor Fire Department, and everyone should have an idea how tough that can be.  He became a law enforcement officer and served with the local Creedmoor Police Department for many years.  He also became a certified EMT and later became Chief of the local South Granville Rescue Squad.  Later he left the local police department to serve as Deputy Sherriff with the Granville County Sherriff’s Department.  Many of these jobs were over-lapping, but he absolutely loved what he did….And he was good at it all. You would think by the jobs he had held “THAT” would be enough service to his community, but it wasn’t enough for my father.  He would at times do mechanical repairs for those who couldn’t afford it at no charge.  He would grow vegetables on his own property as well as gardening areas provided by some of his friends so he could give to those he knew needed the food or to those who simply asked.  For several years he grew gladiolus so he could take them to people who were sick at home or in the hospital.  I’m sure many of the recipients were individuals he had met while performing one of his various job functions.  During his many years in law enforcement he went above and beyond so many times that he truly exemplified the meaning of “a hero.”  [One example was when he responded to a domestic violence call.  A woman who had either 2 or 3 small children and who was approximately 6-8 months pregnant had been severely beaten by her drunken spouse/boyfriend.  My Dad, as well as other officers present, were very worried about the health of the child she was carrying; however, the woman consistently refused transport to the hospital.  They basically begged her to please go to the hospital as they grew more and more concerned about her as well as the baby.  Still she refused because she didn’t want to leave her children, and the only family she had were her parents who lived out of state.  The parents had already been contacted and were on the way, but the police feared something would go terribly wrong if she didn’t get medical help soon.  My dad spoke to this woman and managed to convince her that he would make certain her children would be well taken care of until her parents arrived, and he got her to agree to be transported to the hospital.  He called me to come up to the police station as we lived just down the street, took $100 out of his pocket, and he told me to walk across the street to the grocery store and get “those babies” whatever they needed.  Then the children stayed at our house until their grandparents arrived. ] For my dad, even the above wasn’t enough service.  Many, many years ago he began cutting trees.  He would cut trees for people in the community who needed it cleared as a result of storm damage.  He would cut trees for people who just wanted it cleared for safety reasons - - to prevent it from falling on their homes or power lines.  He would cut trees just to provide firewood for people (mostly the elderly) who needed it to heat their homes and couldn’t do it on their own or couldn’t pay for it.   This would include cutting the trees down, cutting and hauling off branches, cutting into firewood size pieces, loading, hauling, delivering, and stacking.  The cost…..”No Charge.” All that I have mentioned above is but only a very, very tiny bit of what my dad has truly done.  All with humility.  All with pure kindness in his heart.  All without any desire to gain anything for himself.  All with only a true desire to help others.  As the preacher stated during the funeral services on Sunday….If only we could all do a little bit of what Doodlebug did for others this would certainly be a better place. During the recent days our family has heard so many wonderful and kind words about my dad from visitors to which we are truly grateful.  The words I think I'll most remember are when someone said....and I'm paraphrasing.... "Doodlebug did so much for the people in this community....more than anyone else.  This community has suffered a true loss."