Billie Jean Haley

Billie Jean was the third child of four born to Carl and Edith Gillilan in Portland, Ore. Her father worked for the Union Pacific Railroad, traveling the Columbia Gorge. She graduated from Grant High School in Portland, Ore., in 1938, and entered Willamette University in Salem, Ore., with the goal of becoming an R.N.

Billie Jean fell in love with Howard Eberly, who was captain of the basketball team. World War II intervened and Howard went to flight school in Texas. Billie Jean later followed him to Texas and married her “first love” just before he was shipped out to fly B-17G bombers (the “Flying Fortress”) in the Pacific. Howard was a squadron commander and sunk a Japanese battleship and received several high commendations, but before they could be awarded his plane “disappeared” over the jungles of New Guinea in spring 1943. Billie Jean wrote numerous letters to the Pentagon urging them to continue looking for her husband, and the other 10 men on the aircraft, for a number of years. The plane was located exactly 50 years later, in 1993. A memorial service, with a “fly over” by F-15’s in the “missing man” formation was held at the Salem Air National Guard center. Howard is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

On a brighter note, Billie Jean met David E. Haley in Yakima, Wash., and they married on Feb. 23, 1952. He had been a supervisor at Hanford for the Manhattan Project for 10 years, and they settled in Ephrata. Dave operated an office machine sales and service business there for 50 years. The business expanded to the Moses Lake area in 1967. Billie Jean and Dave had two boys: Jim who lives in Moses Lake, and Pat who with his wife, Kristie, and daughter, Erin, live in the Portland, Ore., area.

Some of her happiest memories surround the family’s life at Blue Lake, Wash., where the family had a lovely home for 23 years. The boys and their friends spent many days working hard and then waterskiing until sunset. Billie Jean displayed her varied skills as a poet, chef, nurse, and organizer to many friends and relatives who visited their Blue Lake home. Evenings in the large hot tub looking up to the stars and out to the lake were always memorable occasions.

Billie Jean and Dave discovered the joys of Hawaii, and enjoyed 23 trips to the islands for extended periods of time, especially after Dave retired in 1980.

She came to Moses Lake in 2004 where she was the first resident of the newly built Senior Living Community. Billie Jean enjoyed watching the weather and the changing seasons from her second floor apartment windows with a view towards the north and the distant cliffs above Soap Lake and beyond — the same route the family traveled to their Blue Lake home.

Billie Jean was preceded in death by David, her husband of 50 years, in April 2002. She is survived by her sons Jim and Pat and granddaughter Erin. A private celebration of her life will be arranged later.

Remembrances may be made in the name of Billie Jean Haley to the American Diabetes Association.