Billy Ray Hedges

February 12, 1936 ~ December 25, 2012

Billy Ray Hedges, 76, Brandon, died Tuesday, December 25, 2012 at Sanford Centennial Hospice Cottage in Sioux Falls after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer.

Memorial services will be Saturday, December 29, 2012, 2 pm at Celebration United Methodist Church in Brandon, with Full Military Honors. Visitation will begin at 1 pm. Pastor Rebecca Trefz will be officiating. Heartland Funeral Home has been entrusted with his services.

Billy Ray Hedges was born February 12, 1936 to Oliver and Flossie (Wilkerson) Hedges in Blackwell, OK. He was raised and educated in Tonkawa, OK and upon graduating from high school joined the US Air Force in 1955. In 1957 he married his high school sweetheart, Colleen Rae Pickthorn. In 1959 after honorable discharge from the Air Force he attended Oklahoma State University, obtaining an Electrical Engineering degree. He worked for the Department of Energy for over 30 years, in Watertown, SD and Tulsa, OK. He retired in 1992, and Bill and Colleen moved to Grand Lake of the Cherokees in Oklahoma, and in 2005 moved to Brandon, SD.

Bill was an avid golfer and loved the challenge. He and Colleen loved to travel and they wintered in Texas every year. He and Colleen celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary in July. Bill was member of Celebration United Methodist Church in Brandon.

Bill will be missed, especially by his wife, Colleen, and his children: Julie (Steven) Voss, Dawson, MN, and Steven Hedges, Lakeville, MN; 6 grandchildren, Rick (Stacy) Johnson, Kristen Johnson, Heather Voss, Eric Voss, Rayanne Hedges, and Katy Hedges; and 2 great-grandchildren, Austin Johnson and Aliah Johnson.

Bill was preceded in death by his parents, 2 brothers, Claude and Bernard, and 2 sisters, Hazel Evans and Janice Brock.

In lieu of flowers the family requests that memorials be made to Bill Hedges Memorial Fund for pancreatic cancer research.

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