Bill J. Ellard

1934 - 2010

Bill J. Ellard died quietly at home on Tuesday, March 16, 2010.
Funeral: 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Lee Funeral Home in Winona, Miss. Celebration of life memorial service: 2 p.m. Sunday, March 28, at Bent Tree Country Club in Dallas.
Memorials: Compassionate Hands Hospice, 9150 Royal Lane, Suite 160, Irving, Texas 75063; Mississippi Animal Rescue League, 5221 Greenway Drive, Ext., Jackson, Miss. 39204; Noah's Ark Animal Shelter, P.O. Box 405, Gainesville, Texas 76241; National Youth Cutting Horse Association, Youth Scholarship Cutting, 260 Bailey Ave., Fort Worth, Texas 76107-1862; and American Junior Hereford Foundation, P.O. Box 014059, Kansas City, Mo. 64101.
Ask Bill Ellard, "How are you today?" and chances are his response would be, "I feel healthy! I feel happy! I feel terrific!"
In January 1973, Bill J. Ellard launched National Teacher Associates, Inc., an insurance agency with one disability insurance policy for teachers, a borrowed desk and chair, a secondhand filing cabinet, and no office employees. Bill and three recruited salesmen set out to sell their $9 policy in a snowstorm that closed all the schools in the county.
"The only employee in the school was the librarian; I sold her a policy." When asked when he realized his company was going to be successful, he replied, "There was never a doubt in my mind." Born May 11, 1934, in a community outside Little Rock, Ark., Billy Joe Ellard grew up during the Great Depression. The family struggled to make ends meet. Billy Joe's stepfather, Clarence Wilson, was a train conductor and his mother Doris worked odd jobs. Billy Joe and Betty Sue, his older sister by two years, often went without shoes. Billy Joe, or "Joe" as he was known during those years, graduated from Mabelvale High School in 1951. College was out of the question without a scholarship so Joe worked odd jobs, construction, truck driving, breaking colts. His passion was rodeo and he spent all his hard-earned money going to rodeos where he competed in bronc riding and bull riding.
Joe was a member of the Air National Guard locally. In 1955, he attended NW Community College in Senatobia, Miss., on a football scholarship. Shortly afterwards Joe was drafted into the Army and spent his basic training at Fort Chaffee, Ark., where he was a model soldier, receiving a letter of commendation from the commander general. From there he transferred to Fort Mead, Md., until his discharge in October 1958. Billy Joe returned home to Arkansas and once again took up rodeo as his favorite pastime. A bull riding incident sidelined him with broken ribs and a collapsed lung and a rather large hospital bill. His mother told him "You have to get a job!" In December 1958, Billy Joe went to the local Snelling and Snelling employment agency and told the interviewer he would do anything except "sell insurance." However, his first job interview was with Combined Insurance Company of Chicago and when the interviewer asked him if he would like to make $30 to $50 a day, Joe replied, "Lord yes, what do I have to do?" Jan. 1, 1959, Billy Joe Ellard became an insurance salesman for Combined Insurance under the tutelage of W. Clement Stone to whom Bill attributes much of his success that followed. "I patterned myself and my company after Mr. Stone and the business principles he instilled in me!" And a dynamic salesman Bill became, moving up the ranks from salesman to state sales manager to regional sales manager of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Oklahoma. In 1970, Bill's region alone wrote more business than the entire teacher division did nationwide the year before. Bill was living in Dallas. In 1972, Bill began thinking about starting his own company and in January 1973, National Teacher Associates, Inc. was launched. Today and many schools later with hundreds of salesmen licensed, a battery of insurance products designed by Bill Ellard, thousands of policy holders, business in all 50 states, a home office with over 150 employees, NTA, Inc., has developed into one of the most successful privately-owned life insurance companies and agencies in the country.
Outside the corporate world, Bill pursued his passion for ranching. In 1982, EE Ranches, Inc. was formed. Bill and his wife, Jo, have developed nationally acclaimed Registered Hereford cattle and championship cutting horses. Bill served two consecutive terms on the executive board of directors of the American Hereford Association. Bill's love for animals and passion for helping underprivileged children have driven his charitable contributions for many years. He was a major contributor to Hereford and cutting horse youth programs, provided Christmas gifts to Dallas area orphanages, and gifts to animal shelters in addition to major contributions to Dallas organizations.
Bill was a member of Roaring Lambs Bible Study and lived by godly principles. Throughout his life, Bill inspired all people to reach higher, achieve more, and be a better person. "Do the right thing because it is the right thing to do." Bill was an incredible steward of the blessings God bestowed upon him in life and has left the world a better place.
He was preceded in death by his mother, Doris G. Wilson; stepfather, Clarence Wilson; and his sister, Betty Sue Wilson. Survivors: His wife, Jo McPhail Ellard; sons, Joe Chad Ellard, and Brian Mark and fiancee, Susan Dunn; granddaughters, Brinson and Campbell. Winona relatives include parents-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Gene McPhail; sisters-in-law, Jean McPhail McCarty, Gloria McPhail Laudermilk, Leanne McPhail Kendrick, Betty McPhail; and brothers-in-law, Bob McPhail, Bobby Kendrick, Ronny McCarty, Steve Laudermilk.