Billie Leo Marshall, 92 longtime Bovina resident passed away Tuesday, December 10, 2019 in Amarillo. Viewing will be  from 9:00 A.M. to 8:00 P.M. Saturday, December 14, 2019 in the Ron Smiley Memorial Chapel of HANSARD FAMILY Funeral Home with family visitation from 4:00 P.M. to 6:00 P.M. Celebration of Life Services will be held 2:00 P.M. Sunday, December 15, 2019 at the Bovina Church of Christ with Mike Prather of Bovina and Jeff Procter of Friona, officiating.  Cremation and arrangements by HANSARD FAMILY Funeral Home of Friona.

Billie was born May 13, 1927 in Dawson County, Texas to William Bailey and Ida Rosetta Kidd Marshall. Later, he married Ernesteen Emfinger on January 18, 1945. She passed away in 2017 after 72 years of marriage.

B.L. loved the Lord,and was a life long member of the Church of Christ serving as an elder of the Bovina Church of Christ for many years, and at the Del Rio Church of Christ where he worshiped during his many fishing trips.

L. and Teen bought their farm south of Bovina in 1950. During his years farming, he produced wheat, cotton, corn, sesame seeds, sugar beets, and milo. In the early 1960's he was the largest sesame seed farmer in the U.S.

B.L. loved to tell stories and make people laugh, play 42 or dominoes, and was known as a very generous man.

He is preceded in death by his parents, wife, 2 sisters, Emily and Beth and an older brother E.R. "Shorty" Marshall.

Those to carry on his legacy include- 2 daughters- Joyce Watts of Willis, Texas and Meloney Early of Katy, Texas, and 1 son- Billy Lynn Marshall and wife Linda of Bovina, 9 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren, and 7 great-great-grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to the Bovina Church of Christ, P.O. Box 390 Bovina, Texas  79009.