Billie Jo Trapp

 BILLIE JO ATKINS TRAPP PASSED AWAY ON DECEMBER 28, 2024, IN COLDSPRING, TEXAS AT THE AGE OF 94 YEARS. BILLIE WAS BORN IN FALLS COUNTY, TEXAS ON FEBRUARY 19, 1930, TO ROBERT OLIVER ATKINS AND BERTIE JUANITA SEWELL ATKINS. SHE WAS THE YOUNGEST AND LAST SURVIVING CHILD OF THE EIGHT CHILDREN BORN TO THIS MARRIAGE. BESIDES HER MOTHER AND FATHER, SHE WAS PRECEDED IN DEATH BY SISTERS LOIS ATKINS MCINTYRE, LUCILE ATKINS FLEMING, MARGIE ATKINS, CHRISTINE ATKINS PHILLIPS, WILMA ATKINS BROWDER AND BROTHERS ROBERT F. ATKINS AND DONALD R. ATKINS.

 BILLIE’S FATHER DIED WHEN SHE WAS AN INFANT AND SHE MOVED WITH HER MOTHER AND BROTHERS AND SISTERS STILL AT HOME TO LIVE IN COLDSPRING, TEXAS AT THE AGE OF 8 YEARS. THE FAMILY COW ALSO MOVED WITH THEM. THEY LIVED IN AN APARTMENT ATTACHED TO SEWELL CHEVROLET UNTIL HER UNCLE GREEN SEWELL HELPED BUILD THEM A HOME JUST OFF CEMETERY STREET IN COLDSPRING. BILLIE ATTENDED THE COLDSPING SCHOOL SYSTEM AND GRADUATED IN 1948. IN HIGH SCHOOL SHE WAS THE DRUM MAJOR FOR THE BAND.

 WHILE LIVING IN COLDSPRING SHE MET AND MARRIED MARSHALL DOUGLAS TRAPP, JR. (SONNY). BILLIE AND SONNY MARRIED IN 1948, AND HAD TWO CHILDREN, BENITA TRAPP DOWNEY AND ROBERT HILL TRAPP. BILLIE AND SONNY HAD A LONG AND HAPPY MARRIAGE UNTIL HIS DEATH ON JANUARY 19, 1995. 

 BILLIE NEVER MOVED FROM COLDSPRING. SHE DEVELOPED A LOVE OF THE HISTORY OF SAN JACINTO COUNTY. SHE COLLECTED EVERYTHING SHE THOUGHT HAD HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE AND KEPT IT TUCKED AWAY IN EVERY CORNER OF THE HOMES IN WHICH SHE LIVED. FROM THE HOME ON HIGHWAY 156 SHE AND SONNY MOVED TO THE HOME SONNY INHERITED FROM HIS PARENTS ON HILL STREET IN COLDSPRING. AFTER SONNY’S DEATH SHE MOVED TO THE OLD TWO-STORY BUILDING USED AS TRAPP’S GROCERY AT THE CORNER OF HIGHWAY 150 AND FM 1514 JUST ACROSS FROM THE SAN JACINTO COUNTY COURTHOUSE. SHE RESIDED THERE UNTIL MAY OF 2022 WHEN SHE WAS MOVED TO THE BEST CHOICE PERSONAL HOME CARE IN COLDSPRING. SHE REMAINED A RESIDENT THERE UNTIL HER DEATH. 

 BILLIE HAD MANY INTERESTS. SHE ENJOYED ART AND BEGAN ATTENDING SAM HOUSTON STATE UNIVERSITY IN 1967 AND EARNED HER DEGREE IN ART. AFTER COLLEGE, SHE TAUGHT ART IN THE COLDSPRING SCHOOL SYSTEM FOR MANY YEARS. AFTER RETIRING, SHE TAUGHT ART CLASSES AT HER ART STUDIO ON THE FIRST FLOOR OF THE OLD TRAPP GROCERY BUILDING. WITH HER INTEREST IN HISTORY, SHE EXPLORED MANY OF THE HISTORICAL SITES AROUND SAN JACINTO COUNTY AND BECAME A MEMBER OF THE SAN JACINTO COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION. SHE WAS THE MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR TO A BOOK CALLED THE HISTORY OF SAN JACINTO COUNTY PRINTED IN 1982. SHE APPEARED ON THE EYES OF TEXAS TELEVISION SHOW IN 1987 TO DISCUSS HER DONATION OF THE CAMILLA POST OFFICE TO THE OLD TOWN SITE OF COLDSPRING. SHE ALSO ASSISTED IN THE CREATION AND PUBLICATION OF A BOOK ENTITLED “THE CEMETERIES OF SAN JACINTO COUNTY”. BILLILE HAD AN EAR FOR MUSIC AND SANG IN THE SWEET ADELINES GROUP THAT SHE FORMED IN SAN JACINTO COUNTY. THEY TRAVELED AROUNG TEXAS TO PERFORM AND ALSO SANG IN RUSSIA AT ONE TIME. SHE WAS A MEMBER OF A LOCAL SWEET ADELINE QUARTET TOGETHER WITH DUSKY MCGRAW, MARIYLN MCMURREY AND PAT HUMMEL.

 BILLIE WAS A MEMBER OF THE COLDSPRING BAPTIST CHURCH UNTIL HER MARRIAGE TO SONNY. SHE THEN BECAME A MEMBER OF THE COLDSPRING METHODIST CHURCH. SHE SERVED THE METHODIST CHURCH IN MANY DIFFERENT WAYS. SHE WAS A MEMBER OF EVERY COMMITTEE THERE AT ONE TIME OR ANOTHER. SHE SANG IN THE CHURCH CHOIR. ONE OF HER MOST IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE CHURCH WAS HELPING OBTAIN A GRANT FROM THE MOODY FOUNDSTION IN THE 1970’S TO HELP RESTORE THE CHURCH AND CREATE ADDITONAL CLASSROOMS AND A FELLOWSHIP HALL. WHEN THE EDUCATIONAL WING WAS BUILT AT ITS PRESENT LOCATION SHE DONATED ALL THE GRAVEL NEEDED TO ASSIST IN ITS CONSTRUCTION.

 BILLIE WAS THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND WHAT IS NOW THE ANNUAL CHRISTMAS ON THE SQUARE EVENT. SHE HELPED ORGANIZE IT IN THE 1980’S AND DID SO FOR FIVE YEARS UNTIL THE COLDSPRING CHAMBER TOOK IT OVER. SHE WAS THE GRAND MARSHALL OF THE 2011 CHRISTMAS ON THE SQUARE PARADE.

 BILLIE IS SURVIVED BY HER DAUGHTER BENITA TRAPP DOWNEY AND HUSBAND, MIKE, SON ROBERT HILL TRAPP AND WIFE, AMANDA. GRANDCHILDREN CLAIRE DOWNEY GRIFFITH AND HUSBAND KEITH, ALISON DOWNEY, LAUREN DOWNEY LEDERER AND HUSBAND NICHOLAS, KRISTINA TRAPP VILLARREAL, JAMES MARSHALL TRAPP (JAY) AND WIFE, KATHERINE AND MARY ELIZABETH TRAPP. GREAT GRANDCHILDREN CHRISTOPHER SHANE MORGAN, HATTIE MORGAN, FIONA LEDERER, CALVIN CHARLES LEDERER, ALEXANDER JOSEPH VILLARREAL, OLIVIA KATHERINE VILLARREAL AND JACKSON JAMES TRAPP, TOGETHER WITH A HOST OF NEICES AND NEPHEWS.

 SPECIAL MENTION NEEDS TO GO TO DEBRA GREEN OF BEST CHOICE PERSONAL HOME CARE AND HER STAFF CONSISTING OF ASIA, PRICILLA, SHARDON, KARLEAN, LORETTA, JARESECKIA AND JESSICA. THEY TOOK VERY GOOD CARE OF HER IN HER FINAL DAYS.