Billie the Angel | Mark’s Remarks

What our world needs these days is pretty simple. We need love. We need to care about one another. We need to be selfless.

I think when we come across folks who embody these attributes, we are blessed beyond measure. Those of us who know Billie Riedel are blessed people.

Billie started out in the Missouri town of Nevada. She grew up poor.

“My daddy was a lumberjack. For a while, we lived in a tent. We picked cotton, tobacco, whatever. But there was always room at our table and always time to help someone,” she said.

This is what we are missing these days: parents who don’t have a lot to spare, who still urge their children to help others with what they have. Billie remembers making a door decoration of Jesus knocking on the door.

“I’ve never forgotten that. When the good Lord says do something, I do it,” she said.

As a young wife, Billie trained as a nurse and learned the ropes of caring for people. She eventually had six children of her own. Throughout her life, she worked in other professions and organizations, always seeming to help people.

“I was a locksmith. I worked with 4-H and various churches,” she explained.

Regardless of her large family, Billie kept the motto her parents instilled in her: “There’s always room for one more.”

Her kitchen table is 10 feet long, and she has fed her own children as well as 239 foster kids over the years. Her home was a place children could visit if there was no other place to go.

“Two parents were in a car accident, and their children came to stay with me until Mom and Dad got better. They slept on my floor, but they were well taken care of,” she said.

There’s a front page article about Billie in this week’s paper, informing readers about programs that faces cuts. She works with older folks, but is quick to point out there are plenty of younger people who need just as much help.

Billie isn’t a horn-tooter. She is humble, and rarely talks about her accomplishments or what she’s done. She gives credit to God. She is quick to point out who she believes are the unsung heroes of our world — ambulance drivers, EMTs and law enforcement.

“They have saved so many lives and help people every day. So many people fall over and can’t get up, and these people come out and pick them up,” she said. “Sometimes it’s a matter of life and death.”

God calls us to be servants. We are put here to have fellowship with Him and to spread the gospel. Along the way, we are inspired by people like Billie to do this type of work, to help others, to show love.

In this self-centered world we live in, folks like Billie are rare.

They are angels on earth.

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Mark Tullis

Mark is a 25-year veteran teacher teaching in Columbia. Originally from Fairfield, Mark is married with four children. He enjoys reading, writing, and spending time with his family, and has been involved in various aspects of professional and community theater for many years and enjoys appearing in local productions. Mark has also written a "slice of life" style column for the Republic-Times since 2007.
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