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By James Carroll
By James Carroll
Billy lived in Ohatchee, Alabama. He died on April 11, 2009 at the age of 71 years.
Billy is survived by his daughter Pam Robertson and her husband Kenny Robertson, his daughter Donna Mardant and her husband Alan Mardant. And a son Eddie T. Carroll. Two sisters Violet Griffin and husband Bill, Shirley Cambrom and husband Bill, two brothers Jesse J. Carroll Jr. and wife Mary, James Carroll and wife Shirley.
Bill moved to Ohatchee shortly before he retired in 1997. He graduated from Walter Wellborn High School He was preceded in death by his parents Jesse J. and Mana Carroll. ( Billy May have graduated from Oxford High School.) I was in the army while he was in High School.
By Donna Mardant
Spring is here !!!!! YEA, It's time to plan the garden like my Daddy did every year at this time. Daddy use to say , Donna, this garden is going to scare me to death, I would say why? he would say cause, it's going to grow so fast, I won't be able to pick it fast enough, Then Daddy would just bust out laughing. Me too.He was the coole...st and always funny and could make me laugh all the time.
I saw another article that Donna wrote about her Dad on Facebook; basically it went like this...Donna Carroll Mardant
Hey Guys, I am pulling an uncle James, I have another story. My Dad called me one day and said "Donnaaaaaaaa, you wont believe what I did today". Of Course I said what. lol. He said I bought a Camero Car today, it's white. I ask him what for, and he replied it is the toy I never got when I was young lol. He told me to listen and turned up the volume on the radio and he and I drove around the yard singing for about thirty minutes or more and he was happy for that period of time. I wouldn't have missed an old person having thirty minutes of happiness for the world you know!
Billy
By James
Billy learned to walk when he was eight months old. He was so little that he couldn't reach anything so he would get me to help him. When he was almost one year old Aunt Mattie came to visit us and was sitting by the fireplace talking to mother. Aunt Mattie took her snuff out of her pocketbook and Billy knew from past experience that she would need a spoon to get the snuff out of the can, so he took me by the hand and led me to the kitchen and pointed to the silverware drawer and kind of grunted for me to get something for him. I showed him a fork and that was not the right one so I showed him a spoon and that was it. He took off in a hurry to give the spoon to Aunt Mattie. Aunt Mattie had a fit about Billy bringing the spoon to her; she talked about that incident for years.
Our Dad had a store on Old Bankhead Highway and we lived downstairs. When mother worked in the store she took all of the little ones up with her if the older ones were in school. We were playing outside the store one day and I saw Billy sneaking up on a bird. Zap! He caught him. Billy went running around showing everyone what he had caught and mother made him turn the bird loose, That hurt his feelings bad, he just had a hard time with turning the bird loose. Sneaking up on the bird earned Billy the nickname of 'Charming Billy'. Bill went through life with that same charm, always smiling ; he just made people want to be around him.
One day when Billy was about two, mother gave us a big red lollypop and we went out to play. Over to the side of the store on a bank mother had burned some boxes and the fire was still burning somewhat. Bill and I went over to the fire and was heating up our lollypops.
Back in those days we wore our Bluejeans until they were old and frayed, much like the kids do today. Billy showed me that his pants had caught fire and I knew we were in trouble so I took him by the hand and took off to the store, crying and calling mother; she ran out and started trying to put him out and finally took his pants off. Dr Leyden used to make house calls because not everyone had a car. He came out right away and put dressing on Bill's leg. Then Bill had to stay in bed for a couple of months because he was so sick. He finally got well and had to learn to walk all over again.
When I came back home from a tour of duty in Germany in 1956 Ed Leahey had started a boat shop where he employed Billy, J T West, Travis Talley and other boys from the neighborhood. Rock and Roll was "The Thing" back then and one of the boys in the shop would start singing and all the rest would join in, kind of cool like!
One day Billy was cutting a piece of curved plywood on a table saw, a feat that is dangerous if you don't have a helper on the other end.
The song Little Bitty Pretty One was popular at that time. Billy got his hand caught in the saw blade and started yelling; the other guys thought he was singing so they kept on working and joined in singing; Mmmm m m mm, Mmmm m m mm, Mmmm m m mm, Mmmm m m mm, Ohhh bop bop bodap, Ohhh bop bop bodap, Ohhh bop bop bodap, Ohhh bop bop bodap, Oh Little Bitty Pretty one, Come on and talk to me, Let me hold you lovely one, Come sit down on my knee.
To get help Billy had to get right in J T's face and show him his hand was bleeding. After Billy got back from the hospital with all his stiches and bandages, they all were laughing about how they thought Billy was singing. Billy didn't lose any fingers but did lose a little time from work.
Along about 1969 Billy was working for Vulcan Vendors as a manager for their vending operations at Anniston Army Depot. He hired me as vending route man until that job played out in a few months. When they were awarded the contract for Food Service at Firestone Tire And Rubber Company in Albany, Ga. Billy called me back to work. We worked together for the next twenty five years.
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