Billye Proctor Shaw

Billye Proctor Shaw, 91, passed away on Monday, April 6, 2026, in Abilene, Texas.

Graveside services for immediate family will be led by Felicia Hopkins, District Superintendent for the Northwest Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church, with hymns sung by Twyla Pearce Foreman, and under the direction of The Hamil Family Funeral Home.

Billye was born in Houston, Texas, to Clarence Robert and Crystal Miller Littlepage on August 23, 1934. After graduation from San Jacinto High School at age 16 in 1950, Billye was accepted at Rice University, Houston, Texas. There she met the love of her life, Clarence Atchley (C.A.) Proctor, also 16 years old, and the quarterback for Rice’s championship football team. They married as juniors in 1953 in Houston.

While a Houstonian by birth, she and C.A. became Abilenians by choice. Before C.A.’s untimely death in 1980, they were both active not only in rearing their four children, but in business and civic activities as C.A. was a partner with Wheeler, Deegan, Proctor Insurance Agency. After C.A.’s passing, Billye owned & managed a local real estate company, Olympia Realtors.

Abilene and Texas benefitted through her business and volunteer efforts for many years. Her heart and love of people fueled her passion for service and ultimately guided her involvement in organizations that made Abilene and the state of Texas a better place for her citizens to live and thrive. Billye served on the Abilene City Council, the Taylor County Tax Appraisal District, Abilene Chamber of Commerce, and has served on or chaired numerous nonprofit boards including the United Way, West Texas Rehab Center, Day Nursery, Western Heritage Classic, the Community Foundation, Junior League, Abilene Intercollegiate School of Nursing, and the Foundation Board of St. Paul United Methodist Church. Statewide, Billye was a board member and chair of the Texas Commission on the Arts, Leadership Texas, and the Texas Historical Foundation. She was also a founding board member of Frontier Texas!, Abilene’s Texas Cookbook Gala, and perhaps most importantly, after the loss of second husband Harold Lloyd (H.L.) Shaw to cancer, a founding board member of Cancer Services Network. Together H.L. and Billye owned and operated Big Tex Crude Oil. After his death, Billye became chairman of BT Solutions, an oil-related division order firm.

Billye has been honored as a Pathfinder by the YWCA, Outstanding Citizen of the Year by the Abilene Chamber of Commerce, Distinguished Woman of Texas by the Leadership Texas Alumnae Association, Distinguished Abilenian of the Year by the Abilene Board of Realtors, Outstanding Contributor to the Arts by the Abilene Cultural Affairs Council, and was a recipient of the United Way Volunteer Service Award.

Billye was preceded in death by her parents, C.R. & Crystal Littlepage, her brother Clarence Robert Littlepage, Jr., and husbands C.A. Proctor, H.L. Shaw, and Lloyd Glynn Ray.

Her hobbies included cooking, entertaining, and painting in oils. Her family would expand that list to include legend, fashion diva, leader & servant, and a cherished friend to many. But Billye believed her greatest accomplishment was her family – Mom to her four children, Chris, Ava, Brent, and Lance; Beeps to her 12 grandchildren, Canon, Marissa, Caroline, Stephen, Dylan, Gianna, Colton, Sam, Miranda, Makeda, Simret, and Mia; and her two great grandchildren, Baron and Arabella. Billye always said that her greatest achievement was keeping up with all their birthdays!

Honorary pallbearers are life-long friends - C.B. Casey, Dian Owen Stai, Sharon Riley, Lynda Calcote, Barbara Morris, Joyce Long, Yanell Rieder, and Beeps’ 12 grandchildren.

Memorials may be given to the charity of your choice or to the newly-established Billye Proctor Shaw Endowment at the Community Foundation of Abilene, 850 N. 1st Street, Abilene, Texas, 79601, in the earnest hope that Billye’s legacy of leading and supporting nonprofit organizations that improve the lives of Abilenians can continue for many years to come.