Palestine High School Alumni Association

08 / 31 / 1936  –  03 / 21 / 2000

Services for Billy Earl Cretsinger, 63, of Palestine will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at Bailey & Foster Chapel with the Revs. Willie Reagan and Charles Grasty officiating. Burial will follow in Broyles Chapel Cemetery under the direction of Bailey & Foster Funeral Home.

Mr. Cretsinger died Tuesday morning at Trinity Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler.  He was born August 31, 1936 in Palestine to Edwin Earl and Gertrude Wallace Cretsinger.

Mr. Cretsinger was a member of Broyles Chapel Baptist Church and the Glass, Pottery, Plastics and Allied Workers International Union No. 86. He worked for Glass Containers and retired in 1985. He then owned and operated Cretsingers Country Store until 1999. He was a charter member of the Westside Volunteer Fire Department, a member of the Four Pines Water Board, vice president of the Broyles Chapel Cemetery Association, and served in the U.S. Army from 1957 – 1958.

Mr. Cretsinger is survived by his wife, Virginia Cretsinger of Palestine; sons, Marlin Cretsinger and Philip Cretsinger, both of Palestine; sister, June Shaver of Palestine; brother, Wallace Cretsinger of Palestine; and four grandchildren.

Pallbearers will be Kyle Betterton, James Burney, Kelly Hughes, Mike Harris, Vernon Hollliman, and Brandon Holliman.

Honorary pallbearers will be Dennis Ladd, John Rosier, Billy Snider, Tanya Pinkerton and Tracy Pinkerton.

Source: Palestine Herald-Press 03-23-2000