He was a bright farm boy from North Mississippi when he went off to Mississippi State to see what life had to offer apart from driving a tractor. Somewhere during those four years, he found his passion was accounting, a passion that would define the rest of his life even into so-called retirement. While at Mississippi State, he also met a shy coed a bit younger than he, and they fell in love. That second passion would also define the rest of his life. Throughout the years, he grew professionally to become a CPA’s CPA, someone who simply had to ensure that things lined up-columns of figures, family life, and faith.
We first met Billy Proctor in 1983 shortly after we moved to the Memphis area. We were searching for a church home. At that time, Billy and Carla were moving out of their home on the south side of Memphis into a house in Southaven; however, they were in the process of building a home in Olive Branch. We attended church with them and then went to lunch with them. Billy and Carla introduced us to Faith United Methodist. Little did we know that that lunch would only be the first of hundreds of meals that we would share with the Proctors through the years.
We all wound up at Faith United Methodist Church together. At Faith, Billy and his son Michael handled the sound equipment. Billy was always fascinated by machines-farm machines, sound equipment, computers, and cameras. Billy supplemented his income as an accountant by shooting wedding photographs, and he had an artist’s eye for composition. Billy was also a main stay of the MOFIA, Men of Faith In Action, the men’s group at Faith United Methodist.
Those were the halcyon years for Faith. The Holy Spirit was moving powerfully every Sunday, and people were getting saved, baptized, re-dedicated, and called into ministry.
In the fall of 1985 Billy and Carla were preparing to move into their new home in Olive Branch; however, there was a problem. Faith had scheduled an event for the same night the Proctors were supposed to be moving. I reached the Proctor home late in the afternoon to find that the water heater had overflowed, flooding the garage. Somehow, I was able to get the water heater turned off safely without getting electrocuted, and then Bob and I helped the Proctors move. (Bob is a wizard at packing moving trucks!) Little did we realize that the Proctors’ new home would also become one of our “homes away from home” when we left for the mission field.
Sometime in 1987, we asked Billy to help us manage our finances while we were on the mission field. Billy agreed, and that commitment continued up to the day he died. Only God knows how much Billy helped us over the years. Billy handled investments and taxes and a host of other smaller problems.
The only thing in life that is constant is change, and eventually, Faith underwent a series of transformations, including changing the name to Lifespring. Somewhere along in there, the Proctors changed from Faith to Getwell Road United Methodist Church, now Getwell Church. Eventually, we followed the Proctors to Getwell, and in October 2005, Getwell sent a short term mission team to work with us in Saboba. That might have been the first short term mission team Getwell had sent out; since then, they’ve regularly sent teams to a number of places, including Honduras and Ghana. We suspect that Billy had a great deal to do with the team coming to Saboba. The Getwell group bonded with our local pastors, eventually building the Local Council of Churches meeting hall and guest house, a facility that continues to bless our entire community. The Sunday School class Billy attended also donated small refrigerators to our wards, something we desperately needed.
We laughingly refer to our location in Saboba as “Domeabra,” a phrase in Twi that means “if you love me, you will come.” Only dedicated people will journey all the way to Saboba! Billy traveled to Saboba twice, and the first time he came, he told us, “Now I know why I must continue to help you.”
There are no words to describe all the help Billy has given us through the years. Billy and his wife have hosted us numerous times and have shared their passions with us. Billy has handled our taxes, our funds, and other miscellaneous things such as social security and driver’s license renewals. The Proctors have allowed us to use their address as an accommodation address, a big thing when you spend most of your life overseas.
Billy Proctor was one of the bravest people we knew. Sometimes bravery consists of lying there in bed knowing everything hurts and getting up and working anyway. For the last twenty or thirty years, Billy struggled with a host of chronic health problems, any one of which might have incapacitated a lessor individual. Billy rarely complained and persisted in doing as much as he could.
Billy shared friendships with us. Billy was part of a group of men who got together for lunch once a week-most of those men preceded Billy into heaven. Billy faithfully attended the men’s groups and the Wednesday night meetings at Getwell, as well as Sunday morning services and Sunday School.
Billy’s story would be incomplete without telling some of the story of his beloved wife Carla. Born into an upper-class family in the Mississippi Delta, Miss Carla is a stickler for doing things properly, and a delight to all of us who know her. In an earlier age, Miss Carla would have donned white gloves before leaving the house. Were it not for Miss Carla’s devoted care, Mister Billy’s life might have been several years shorter, simply because Miss Carla refused to let him give up. Carla has been a wife, a mother, and a social worker passionate about placing the right children with the right homes.
When we returned from a shattering first missionary term in 1990, Miss Carla was the one who connected me with a Christian psychologist just in time to save me from having to enter a mental hospital with severe depression. For that help alone, my husband and I owe the Proctors a debt we can never adequately repay. Thanks to Carla’s timely help, I made the connection, saw Dr. Philip Gentry as an emergency, and got started on the necessary treatment. That treatment allowed me to work part-time while recovering and healing from long-time emotional hurts. My ability to later upgrade a health center to a small hospital in the middle of a tribal war is directly due to that healing.
When we think of Billy’s entry into heaven yesterday, we think of all the friends with whom he has re-connected-Pastor Curtis Petrey, Dr. Jack, Cecil Williamson, his parents. We can almost hear Curtis greeting Billy in that distinctive LA–Lower Alabama-accent.
For Billy, the words of Saint Paul in 2 Timothy 4:7-8 have come true: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”
To Billy, we say, “We have always loved you and continue to love you. We will see you in the morning when Jesus comes to free all of us.” To Billy’s family and many friends, we say, “We grieve with you. We pray for you. May God help us all to be as faithful as Billy has been!” And we also say, “Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!”
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