William ‘Billy’ Strait

Published 10:58 pm Saturday, May 3, 2014

Funeral services for William “Billy” Strait of Brookhaven are 2 p.m. on Monday, May 5, 2014, at Stringer Funeral Home with burial in Rose Hill Cemetery. Stringer Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Visitation is Monday, May 5, 2014, from noon until time of service.

Mr. Strait, 89, died May 3, 2014, at Hardy Wilson Hospital, Hazlehurst. He was born on Dec. 6, 1924, in Lincoln County to Willie Jay and Ella Price Strait.

He was a 1944 graduate of Brookhaven High School, where he lettered in both basketball and track. He was second in high hurdles in the Southwest Region, the Big 8; Overall State in the 10th, 11th and 12th grades; “never able to beat that one boy from McComb.” His athletic prowess was passed on to his twin grandsons, Justin and Benjamin Chapman, who attended the University of Oklahoma on track scholarships.

Mr. Strait was drafted the summer before his senior year, serving briefly in the Army’s 43rd Rainbow Division Infantry at Camp Gruber, Oklahoma. Upon his discharge in December 1943, he returned home and promptly called up a pretty girl who earlier had caught his eye at school, one Doris Smith. The two had their first date on Christmas Eve 1943, going to “the midnight picture show” and when Billy gave Doris a gold heart locket. The two became sweethearts and later graduated together the spring of 1944. They eloped on July 2, 1946, on the way to visit Doris’ sister and brother-in-law in Pascagoula, keeping their marriage a secret, albeit not for long as their first child was born within the year. Four more children completed their family. He had written in his Bible: “The sweetest thing I have ever known was loving Doris for 62 years – who blessed our family with five children. First date: Christmas 1943 till Jan. 29, 2005.”

Upon graduation from Copiah-Lincoln Junior College in 1946, Mr. Strait worked for Sun Oil Company before joining United Gas, later Entex, in 1950. His career began in Brookhaven and took him to Newton and then Hazlehurst, where he retired after 36 years. He was also a volunteer fireman. After retirement, he operated Strait’s Blue Flame Service, servicing gas appliances for another two decades. Many times he charged only for parts, his way of helping may who could not afford to pay.

Billy and Doris Strait were married for 58 years when she died on Jan. 29, 2005. He married Dolores Arnold Day in 2007, and they made their home in Brookhaven. They were both avid gardeners until their health failed.

Mr. Strait had a way with flowers and was known to be able to “plant a plastic flower in the ground and it would root.” He was a member of his childhood church, Hawking Chapel Methodist Church, and also attended Jackson Street Methodist Church in Brookhaven.

He was a proud veteran and a member of the American Legion in Wesson.

To say he loved Southern gospel music, a loved he passed on to his five children, was an understatement. He loved its rich harmony and “hand clapping” rhythms. He had amassed a collection of over 165 CD’s and cassettes and had attended “gospel singin’s” throughout the state for over 50 years.

Anyone who knew Billy knew he loved to pull tricks and “tell tall tales” to make people laugh, a trait he inherited from his father, whose charisma earned him one term as a floating representative from Lincoln and Franklin Counties in the Mississippi State Legislature during the 1930s. A young Billy served as page during this time, recalling such experiences as his first air-conditioned building and hearing the fledging Blackwood Brothers sing on Saturday mornings in front of the Lamar Life Building. He also liked to recall the story of the summer session of 1936 when, as a hot and bored boy of 12, he was sitting in the window at the Capitol during a meeting and “accidentally” dropped a paper cup into the fan, making “the awfulest racket.” He was promptly scolded by Rep. Walter Sillers.

Billy also liked to tell about the time when Gov. Hugh White told him to run and get him some Roitan cigars, for which Billy said he ran up and down those big marble stairs, “the prettiest things I’d ever seen,” as fast as he could, earning him four bits, a lot of money to a poor farm boy in 1936.

Preceding him in death were his parents; first wife, Doris Smith Strait; sister, Katherine Tigrett of Brandon; and brother Paul Straight of Wesson.

Survivors are his wife Dolores Day Strait of Brandon; five children, Sylvia Chapman “Mel” of Fairview, Texas, Becky Howard “John” of Madison, Jenny Davis “Alan” of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Billie Dawn Strait of Hazlehurst, and Jay Strait “Lanell” of Hazlehurst; seven grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.

Memorials can be made to the Alzheimer’s Association or to missions at Jackson Street Methodist Church in Brookhaven or First Baptist Church in Hazlehurst.