George Billingsley was the waterfront director at Kamp Kia Kima, a Boy Scout camp just outside of Hardy, Ark., in the 1950s when he first met Boyce Woollard.
Woollard's younger brother, John Cooper Jr., didn't know how to swim and her stepfather, John Cooper Sr., reached out to the camp to arrange swimming lessons. Woollard accompanied her younger brother for those lessons where she became friends with Billingsley.
"I'm not sure how much they dated, but life happens and George went into the Navy and Boyce went to college at the University of Arkansas and eventually married Charles Morgan," said Neff Basore, a third-generation member of the Cooper family and nephew of George and Boyce Billingsley.
Boyce's marriage to Charles Morgan didn't work out and she and her son Chuck moved to Cherokee Village, Ark., where her family had started a small real estate development, Cherokee Village Development Company. Boyce used her business degree to work in the business office of the family company, which is now known as Cooper Communities Inc.
That path led Boyce back to George Billingsley and the two married in 1959.
That marriage was the start of what would be a period of groundbreaking contributions -- both in business and philanthropically -- to Bella Vista and Northwest Arkansas.
Boyce Woollard Morgan Billingsley, 89, passed away at her home in Bentonville on March 18 after a long illness -- just under 19 years after the passing of her husband of 43 years.
It was 1965 when George Billingsley was named vice-president and project director for what would be the new Bella Vista Village. George and Boyce made the move to Northwest Arkansas to begin a monumental time that helped shape many aspects of Bella Vista and the area for many years.
"George was one of the finest salesmen I have ever seen and was in charge of sales, and Boyce was very involved in the accounting division and very hands-on," said Basore, whose mother Ann Woollard Basore, was Boyce's older sister. "When she was around, especially when she was in the sales center, it wasn't just sitting there. She understood what was going on and would help the younger salesmen with any number of issues."
And she wasn't afraid to be heard, Basore said.
"Boyce never resisted letting you know her opinion," he said with a chuckle. "Ninety percent of it was great. The rest of the time you didn't really want to know because it was usually something you didn't do that you should've done. As the oldest grandchild, I was on the receiving end of a lot of her constructive criticisms."
Boyce Billingsley was born on Oct. 27, 1931, in Memphis, Tenn., to Mildred Borum and DB Woollard Jr. The first year of her life was spent in Memphis and then the family moved to West Memphis.
When she was 5, her father drowned while on a fishing trip. Her mother, Mildred, elected to stay in West Memphis and was appointed postmistress of the West Memphis Post Office.
Mildred later married John Cooper Sr., and the family remained in West Memphis where Boyce attended and graduated from West Memphis High School.
Along with her son Chuck from her first marriage, Boyce and George Billingsley had two daughters, Boyce Ann and Kelly.
From the start, the family always had a giving attitude and it showed, Basore said. The couple led an active social life and were very involved in community service.
"And Boyce, even in the later years, never stopped giving," he said.
Boyce was heavily involved with Bentonville schools and the Bentonville-Bella Vista Boys & Girls Club, serving on the school board for 10 years and as a Girl Scout chairman for many years.
She helped start the Bella Vista First United Methodist Church and was also a board member of the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville.
The Billingsleys gave generously to the University of Arkansas, both serving on the campaign for the 21st-century steering committee, which achieved the University of Arkansas's first billion-dollar funding. Together they received the Arkansas Razorback Foundation Distinguished Service Award and the Chancellors Medal in 2005.
In 1999, the couple donated $1.15 million to the University of Arkansas music department, and in 2012, when Boyce was downsizing her Bella Vista home in preparation for a move to Bentonville, she donated her 17-year-old Steinway Model M piano to the University of Arkansas and Sturgis Hall at the Janelle Y. Hembree Alumni House.
"After wondering for some time who I could give it to, I remembered the university," Billingsley told the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette at the time. "I asked Chancellor Gearhart if there was any interest in getting this piano, and he said he would be delighted to have it. I'm pleased they have chosen the alumni house for its location."
No matter how big or small the donation, giving to others was always important for the Billingsleys, Basore said.
"Through the years, they were always extremely supportive of the university and they contributed significant amounts of money to music and sports and other things," he said. "When George branched out into other lines of business, Boyce continued her philanthropic activities.
"You can definitely see her influence on a lot of things. She did a lot to help improve schools and just the area in general."
According to her obituary, Boyce was preceded in death by her husband, parents, her stepfather, John A. Cooper Sr, her brother, John A. Cooper Jr., and her sister, Ann Woollard Basore.
She is survived by her children, Charles (Chuck) Morgan III of Boca Raton, Fla., Boyce Ann Billingsley of Hudson, N.Y., and Kelly Billingsley Jones of Bentonville, two grandchildren, George Wolfram and Rebecca Wolfram of Hudson, N.Y., and one sister, Rebecca Cooper Whelan of Hot Springs.
In lieu of flowers, the family is encouraging memorials to the Northwest Arkansas Children's Shelter in Bentonville.
Basore said it was Boyce's wish not to have a public memorial service.
More News
“Mom and dad really loved the Normandy trip they used to sponsor for the Bentonville High School juniors,” Kelly Jones, daughter of George and Boyce Billingsley said. “The students wrote such wonderful notes when they returned home and it was an opportunity for them to travel to London/France and take a similar journey that the first wave of soldiers took across the English channel to the beaches of the invasion.
“They were adamant about education and mom served on the [Bentonville] School Board for years. They were very generous to the UA as well; not just in sports but also in music. And mom served on the board of the Walton Arts Center for a time and she was a member of the Circle of Care at Arkansas Children’s Hospital.”