William “Bill” Quay Tekell, 94, formerly of Crane, Texas, passed away on Sunday, Dec. 23, 2012, at home in Middleton, Wisc., where he lived with his daughter and family.
He was born to Zemrie Cornelius and Ida Bell Tekell, July 5, 1918, in Roane. After his mother’s death in 1929, he lived with his maternal aunt and uncle, Etta and James Brown, in Eureka. He was inducted into the United States Army in March, 1941, and was first deployed to Panama where he trained with the Bushmasters Battalion of the 158th Infantry Regiment. He served in the Bismarck Archipelago campaign in New Guinea, and returned to the States as a Staff Sergeant and drill instructor for the Army Air Corps at Scott Field, Ill. He married Mayna Lee Steele on June 23, 1945. Together they lived for a short time in Belleville, Ill., and then Corsicana, finally moving to Crane in 1949, where Bill began work on the Texas-New Mexico pipeline. Bill and Mayna lived in Crane for more than 60 years, relocating to Wisconsin late in 2010.
Bill worked in the oil fields of West Texas, and retired as a motor man from Pioneer Natural Resources Company in 1982, though the farming life from his childhood and young adult years in East Texas was never far from his heart. He was a member of the Crane (Texas) Presbyterian Church, later attending the First Methodist Church also of Crane. Bill was a life-long gardener, certain there could be no such thing as too many tomatoes. He enjoyed boots, jeans, big hats, and an east-facing sittin’ porch for his morning and evening coffee where he listened to more Astros baseball than one would think possible. Good luck, old pal.
Bill was preceded in death by his parents; wife, Mayna; son, Billie; brother, Wilson and sister-in-law Blanche; nephew, Edwin Knight; and niece, Ruthie Knight.
Survivors include his daughter, Sue; son-in-law, John Westbury; grandchildren, John, Tracy and Will, all of Middleton, Wisc.; nephew, Richard Knight of Streetman; niece, Mary Knight of Rockdale; and Boyd cousins spread across Texas, and dear friends in Crane.
Graveside services will be held at Birdston Cemetery near Streetman.
Funeral arrangements were provided by Gunderson Funeral Home in Middleton, Wisc.
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William 'Bill' Quay Tekell
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William ‘Bill’ Quay Tekell
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