Billy Hurston Day

Billy Hurston Day, age 80, passed away Sat., March 4, 2017, at Elba Nursing Home in Elba.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Tues., March 7, 2017, at Opp Church of Christ. The Rev. Trey Poole will officiate. Visitation will be held one hour prior to service. Burial will follow in the Salem Baptist Church Cemetery with Keahey Funeral Home of Lockhart directing.

Billy Hurston Day was born Jan. 27, 1937, in the Blue Springs Community of Covington County to Earnest J. Day and Irma McCallum Day. He was the youngest of five children. His father was a farmer and carpenter.

Bill grew up in the Crossroads Community of Baldwin County due to his father moving his family there during the Great Depression. In 1950 the family returned to Covington County and settled in the Green Bay Community. Bill attended Opp High School, graduating in 1957. After high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. After leaving the service, he was employed by several major hotel and restaurant chains across the country in operations and management rolls. In the late 1960s and early 1970s he owned several restaurants and an insurance agency in the Tuscaloosa and Birmingham areas.

Bill returned to Opp in the mid 1970s due to health concerns related to his military service. He was a jolly, colorful personality who enjoyed talking, a lot! He was active in the Disabled American Veterans Association serving as the Andalusia Post Commander in the early 1980s. He was a regular at Lloyd Sellers’ Deans Pharmacy passing the time, which means carrying on at Lloyd and everyone else who came in.

Bill was a member of the Opp Church of Christ. There he participated in the distribution of commodities to those less fortunate and elderly. He would regularly assist elderly in the community assisting them to doctor’s appointments or to the grocery store. He could regularly be seen walking in Opp and stopping to talk to all he saw. He could also be found helping his brother or nephew with their farming. He would do all the hauling during the harvest season or be the truck driver in the spring or making a run for parts.

In the 1990s he married the late Lynda Giddens of Andalusia. Linda’s daughter Tonya and her two children, Reagan and Sera, were his pride and joy.

He was proceeded in death by his wife Lynda, parents, and brother’s L.E. “Red” Day, James Day, Richard “Dick” Day, and sister Irene Cook.

He is survived locally by nieces, Bobby Jowers and Sandra Jackson; and nephew, Charles E. Day of Opp; step-daughter, Tonya Pelham; and step-granddaughters, Reagan and Sera Pelham. He is also survived by numerous other nieces and nephews.