My Story

ABOUT BILL

William Jennings Breeden was born in Danville, Virginia on October 17, 1900 the son of Lee Andrew and Fanny (Owen) Breeden. Bill was the fifth born of nine children with five sisters and three brothers. His father was a tobacco farmer. As a youth he learned the value of hard work by helping in his Uncle Luther’s plumbing business. As was common in those years Bill had to drop out of school as a young boy to help support the large family, and consequently only achieved a 6th grade level education.

As an adult Bill was average size measuring 5ft 7in tall, weighing around 185 pounds with a pot belly. He had a pleasant personality and loved talking about things he knew best. His speech was a slow southern draw, and there were many mis-pronounced words in his vocabulary. Humorous conversations were frequent. For example: On one occasion when we were young, our Dad overheard my brother Tom and I cursing. It made Dad mad and he said to us: “Quit that damn cussing, it sounds like hell.” We all laughed about that remark. When describing a heart attack he had experienced, he said it started burning and hurting in his chest, traveled down his arm and body into his leg, then took a “reverse english” back up to his chest. It was like he was describing a billiard shot with a que ball.

In 1919 he married Mary Arkansas Higgs and they had four (4) children: Lorraine, William Jr., Andrew (died at birth in 1933), and Ruth Ann. He came to Chillicothe, Ohio in 1930 to visit his sister Sallie and took a temporary job in the pipe shop at Mead Paper. The job became permanent and he moved to Ross County Ohio. Eventually he divorced his first wife and married Maddie Elizabeth (Kerns) Atkins on December 7, 1940. They had two sons: Thomas and Francis Breeden. Through his second wife he also became the step father to three sons: Peyton, Shirley (Jake), and Jack Atkins. who had lost their biological father in a tragic traffic accident.

Bill loved sports, especially baseball, and played catcher on the Mead Industrial baseball team in the 1930’s. Later he managed the team to stay involved with baseball. He followed high school basketball and never missed a game Tom and Francis played. Bill was their most vocal fan. He also was an avid boxing fan and enjoyed watching the Friday Night Fights on The Gillette Cavalcade of Sports. While sitting in his easy chair he would throw punches at the television screen right along with the boxers. In his younger years he was known to engage in fisticuffs when disagreements could not be settled peacefully. The boxer Jersey Joe Wolcott was one of his favorite athletes.

Bill and Elizabeth (Sis) lived on a small farm one mile from Hallsville, Ohio. They planted corn and other crops. They also raised hogs, chickens, turkeys, cattle, and an occasional horse. Bill was always ready to help a friend or family member when they needed him, especially with plumbing problems, his expertise.

Seemed like he was working sun up to sun down everyday at the mill, for friends and on the farm. The farm was actually a labor of love. He enjoyed rural life, the smell of fresh cut hay, and loved animals. He retired from Mead Paper after 37 years as Pipe Shop Foreman in 1965. His health deteriorated quickly and he succumbed to heart disease and died January 1, 1967. He and his sister Sallie Fisher are both buried in the Hallsville Ohio Cemetery.

Bill was well known, liked and respected in the community. He was a devoted husband and a great father. We miss him everyday, some 50 years since his death. He is buried beside the love of his life, Elizabeth. If you ever travel by the Hallsville Cemetery stop and say hello. I’m sure he would love you for the visit.

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