Obituaries

Billy Hardaway Jr.

Gregory ‘Greg’ Martin G

Billy Joe Thetford, of Killeen, passed away at the Veterans Affairs Clinic in Temple on Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022, at age 91. Visitation and viewing will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 2, in the Groesbeck Funeral Home Chapel. The family will hold a memorial service the following week, after cremation as Thetford requested. The service will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday Nov. 9, in the Groesbeck Funeral Home Chapel. Thetford was born June 24, 1931, to Joe Jefferies Thetford and Sammie Lewis Thetford at Horn Hill. He grew up in the Horn Hill community and attended school in Groesbeck. He served in the U.S. Army from November 1951 to Nov. 29, 1954, during the Korean war. He was not in combat, but he laid communications lines across the Korean countryside. Thetford had many various work experiences during his lifetime. While living in Oklahoma, he sold velvet paintings which he imported from Mexico. When the family moved to Freeport, he opened and operated a successful business named Black Light, where he sold swimsuits, seashells and other beach things.