Palestine High School Alumni Association

08 /18 / 1953  –  09 / 15 / 1974

Funeral services for Bill Reeves were scheduled for 4 p.m. today in the Hassell & Foster Funeral chapel here with Rev. Maxwell Webb, officiating.  Burial will be at Land of Memory Cemetery.

William “Bill” Lowell Reeves was born in Palestine on August 18, 1953, son of Bob and Charlsye Riddle Reeves.  He graduated from Palestine High School in 1970 and was a member of First Christian Church.  He attend Stephen F. Austin and was employed by the United Drilling Company at the time of his death.

Pallbearers will be Jim Reeves, Cliff Moore, J.M. Hackett, Jr., Greg Johnson, J.M. Dansby and George Barnes.

Survivors include his parents, Mr. & Mrs. Bob Reeves; brother, Robert Reeves of Tyler; aunt, Mrs. E.C. (Evelyn) Stallcup of Palestine; and a great-aunt, Mrs. Jack Brown of Palestine.

Source:  Palestine Herald Press

Bill Reeves, 21, son of Mr. & Mrs. Bob Reeves, Palestine, was killed in an oil field accident in Houston County early Sunday morning.  Reeves was reported working on United Drilling Company’s Rig No.5 when the accident happened.

Fellow workers said that the driller pulled the block into the crown of the derrick, cutting the drill line and causing the block to fall.  The block knocked the board out from under the deck on which Reeves was working, toppling him to the derrick floor some 100 feet below.  Mrs. Mada Davis, Grapland Justice of the Peace, pronounced Reeves dead at the scene following the accident which occurred around 4 a.m. Sunday.

The victim’s father is a well known Palestine attorney and longtime member of the Anderson County Bar Association.  Out of respect to the family, the three state district courts which sit in Palestine will be closed throughout the afternoon today.