Bill L. Stevens

Funeral services for Bill L. Stevens, 69, of Lufkin will be held Friday, January 18, 2013 at 10:00 a.m. in the Carroway Funeral Home Chapel in Lufkin with Brother Eddie Ballard and Brother Jerry Browning officiating.

Mr. Stevens was born September 3, 1943 in Pascagoula, Mississippi to the late Mildred (Fair) Coley and Lamar Stevens. He died Monday, January 14, 2013 in a Lufkin hospital.

A resident of Louisiana for most of his life, Mr. Stevens had lived in Lufkin for the past 25 years. He was a retired regional school supplies and specialties manager. Bill was a stand-out high school athlete star in Lumberton, Mississippi, and had been recruited by a number of colleges with football scholarships. During his tenure as a high school football coach, he touched the lives and mentored countless students. He had been actively involved in the Lufkin Dixie youth baseball program. In his retirement years, he enjoyed playing golf with his buddies at the Lufkin Country Club. Bill loved his wife and son, loved his life, loved this country, and had a great love of animals. He put up a courageous 15-year fight against lymphoma.

He is survived by his wife of 43 years, Jeannine Williams Stevens of Lufkin; son and daughter-in-law, Billy S. and Jennifer Stevens of Lufkin; granddaughter, Avery Stevens and another grandchild that is expected this summer; as well as a host of family and friends; and a special acknowledgement to his high school friends of Lumberton, Mississippi, the Gruntz and Palmisano Family in New Orleans, LA, the Spataro Family in Bossier City, LA, and the Knapp Family in Lufkin.

Mr. Stevens was preceded in death by his parents; daughter, Lisa Carolyn Stevens; and stepfather, William S. Coley.

Honorary pallbearers will be the 1978 Franklinton High School football team, his golf buddies at Lufkin Country Club, Terry Joe Byrd, Mike Duckworth and Clyde Wright.

Special thanks go to Dr. Kavitha Pinnamaneni and the East Texas Hematology and Oncology Clinic, to Dr. Imran Nazeer, Dr. Hunter Looney, Woodland Heights Medical Center, and Heart to Heart Hospice.

Memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society, 212 Gene Samford Drive, Lufkin, Texas 75904, or to the Humane Society of Angelina County, P.O. Box 472, Lufkin, Texas 75902.

The family will welcome friends and loved ones from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. Thursday evening at the funeral home in Lufkin.

Memories and condolences may be added at www.carrowayfuneralhome.com.

Carroway Funeral Home, Lufkin, directors