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1941 - 2025

Billie Jo Read

1941 - 2025

Obituary

Guest Book

BORN

1941

DIED

2025

Billie Jo Read Obituary

Published by Legacy Remembers on Apr. 25, 2025.

Billie Jo Read, aged 83 of Eau Claire, WI passed away peacefully on April 21, 2025 at Azura Memory Care. She was born May 1, 1941 in Freeport, IL to Harriet Mae Hawkins (Denton) and William Howard Hawkins. Billie Jo graduated from Plymouth High School in Wisconsin & attended classes at Stout before marrying Duane (Skip) Read in 1959 in Plymouth, WI.

Billie Jo enjoyed raising and showing English Springer Spaniel's and English Cockers, genealogy, gardening and Civil War History. She was proud to volunteer at the Wisconsin Veterans Home at King and the Archives in Bonduel, WI.

Billie Jo is survived by her children, Dianne Read-Jackson, son-in-law, Jay Jackson, Altoona, WI, son David B Read, Cheyenne, WY and grandchildren Ryan W Jackson, Bloomington, MN and Rachel Read, Cheyenne, WY.

Billie is preceded in death by her husband Duane (Skip) Read and a daughter in infancy, Lianne. Burial will take place at a later date at Woodlawn in Plymouth, WI. Tributes can be made in Billie's name to the Alzheimer's Association at alz.org.

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Recent Activity

September 29, 2025

Deb Peeters posted to the memorial.

May 7, 2025

Perri P Parker posted to the memorial.

April 29, 2025

Jaime (Camps) Blakeslee posted to the memorial.

8 Entries

Deb Peeters

September 29, 2025

Billie was such a wonderful friend to the reenacting community. We enjoyed her company and valued her knowledge and hard work. We share in your sorrow. Sincerely Billie's Angels of the Battlefield friends.

Perri P Parker

May 7, 2025

You are missed. Perri, National Woman's Relief Corps. We would have worked with Veterans together.

Jaime (Camps) Blakeslee

April 29, 2025

I have many memories of Billie Jo and her visits to Grandma Jewell´s house in the summers. I am sorry to hear of her passing & for your loss.

Carrie Stoss

April 25, 2025

We are sorry for your loss. I think of Billie and Skip often. We enjoyed being neighbors. They watched our kids grow up and wouldn´t care that their yard was the route our kids traveled daily between us, the Stoss´s and the Margos.

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Meghan (Reinke) Diemel

April 25, 2025

My first memories of Aunt Billie are of her with her dogs, which were her faithful companions and always by her side. Her commitment to raising and showing English Springer Spaniels and English Cockers was always apparent, and I remember being in such awe that my Aunt Billie showed dogs, just like those people I saw at the Westminster dog show on TV.

Aunt Billie and Uncle Skip played host to many hours of imagination in their backyard when they moved closer to our family in Bonduel, and we also had many nights with movies and popcorn, our laps often also full of dogs and/or puppies. Out on their three-season porch, we learned how to make dolls out of their hollyhocks with "just a few" toothpicks, and spent hours playing with the dogs near her enormous garden. There were many New Year´s Eve under their care with bed times that maybe were a little later, many Thanksgiving dinners in their formal dining room where everything was put together so nicely (and I remember thinking, was so fancy), and many Memorial Days watching the Indy 500 together. Their porch also served as a cool place to rest during busy Fourth of Julys uptown.

As I grew older, I was excited to be chosen as Aunt Billie´s helper on Halloween night, and she was actually the first person I can remember telling me a real-life ghost story, based on their apartment in Plymouth. I was hooked after that and owe my love for spooky season in large part to Aunt Billie.

She also opened up the world of genealogy to me, making it so interesting for a teenager. I will forever cherish the work she put into tracing our maternal family roots, as well as the interesting information she found on our paternal side while trying to trace that back through generations. Because of Aunt Billie, we learned how to embrace history, to respect it, and to learn from it.

Aunt Billie was also the first person to make me aware of the Archives in Bonduel. For someone who didn´t even grow up in the area, she gave back to the Bonduel community through her volunteerism, and was always telling me about the neat things she´d find while at the Archives tied to my dad´s family. I was also inspired by her stories of the good people she helped while volunteering at the Wisconsin Veterans Home. It was clear that she felt philanthropy was an important part of our civic duty, and she encouraged that in her nieces.

Aunt Billie will be greatly missed - I´m thankful to have been a small part of her life´s larger story.