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Billie Belle's Unkind Death
The homecoming queen of Woodlawn High, 1933. There must still be some in Birmingham who recall Billie Belle's smile and welcoming eyes as she received the affection of the crowd that October night. This beautiful young lady received the best life had to offer that cool evening, as the icon to Vulcan looked on approvingly from above and U.S. Steel's furnaces glowed an even brighter orange than usual, celebrating the young woman's glory. There might be better days for Billie later on, but this one would be hard to top.
Billie moved from Birmingham after finishing high school. She married and had a baby within a short time. The marriage failed after a dozen years, leaving a young woman and her child to make their way together. Billie died at home yesterday in south Louisiana, her home for the past 60 years. There were no bands playing, no football player on her arm when she finally lost her grip on life. Diabetes, loss of vision, renal failure, dialysis, pancreatic cancer … an accumulation of body blows finally took their ultimate toll after far too long a time. Her son Jerry was not there during his mom's final 30 minutes of agony. He had been by his mother's side, if not literally, virtually so, for the 3 years of her decline. Jerry was not at his mother's side when she died because he was waiting in line at the hospital pharmacy …
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