Graveside services for Lt. Col. Billie D. Sims, Ret., 80, of Jefferson, Texas will be held at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, August 1, 2012 at Tyler Memorial Park in Tyler, with Rev. Clarence Clevenger officiating. Visitation will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday, July 29th at Haggard Funeral Home.

Miss. Sims was born in Tyler, Texas on February 19, 1932 to John William and Dora Maudine Baird Sims. She passed away on July 27, 2012 in Jefferson. She graduated from Tyler High School then attended Parkland Nursing School in Dallas, Texas. She worked for eleven years as an O.R. nurse at Medical Center Hospital in Tyler. She then joined the Army Nurses Corps where she served for twenty years. During that time, she worked at Letterman General Hospital, Walter Reed Hospital and in Chu Lai, Vietnam (1968-69) as an O.R. nurse. She also served at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri; Fort Sam Houston, Texas; Seoul, Korea; Berlin, Germany; Fort Hood, Texas; and Fort Stewart, Georgia. While in the Army, she obtained her Bachelors of Science in Nursing from Incarnate Word University.

After her retirement from the Army, she worked part-time in the OR at Marshall Memorial Hospital. She was a member of First Baptist Church in Tyler, the American Business Women’s Association (ABWA) in Marshall. She was also a member of the Sesame Club, and to two quilting clubs in Marshall. In the late 1980’s and early 90’s she went on two medical missionary trips to Mexico.

Surviving relatives include her sisters Ruth and husband Frank Howell of Diana, Texas; Armitta Ann and husband James D. Blackburn, M.D. of Jefferson; nieces and nephews, James David (Cheryl) Blackburn, Jr. of Katy, Texas; Patricia A. Blackburn Roberts of Jefferson; Robert Sims (Tiffany) Blackburn of Marshall; William Patrick (Amy) Blackburn of Marshall; Mary E. Howell (Bobby) Crawford of Daingerfield; fourteen great nephews and nieces and several close cousins throughout East Texas.

The family wishes to thank Pine Hill Nursing and Rehab Center and Hearts Way Hospice and memorials may be made to them.

A memorial guestbook may be signed at www.haggardfuneralhome.com