Sikes, Billy

Billy Sikes (Alice)
PO Box 58
Alleene, AR 71820-0058

(870) 542-6585

billysikes@whti.net

In a nutshell, I started out in June 1940 here in Alleene and still live at the same address although we built a new home in 1967 (okay, its 40 years old).

After graduating from dear old Ashdown High School, I enrolled in college at Texarkana Junior College (now Texarkana Community College). 

During my two years at TJC, I met a beautiful blonde from the Crossroads community in the western part of the county and after she graduated from Foreman in 1959, she got a job as a telephone operator in Shreveport (more on that later).

With my first two years of college behind me, I discovered Centenary College in Shreveport and decided that it would be much better for me than the U of A, plus it allowed me to be closer to that blonde I referenced above.  In fact, I didn’t even make it a year until Alice and I were married in March 1961.  By the time we have our reunion, Alice and I will have made it 47 years with our union with plans to extend it indefinitely.

After graduating from Centenary I went to work for Arkla Gas (now Centerpoint Energy) in Shreveport and then transferred to Foreman Cement which was wholly owned by Arkla (spent some time there with Jamie Dell).

During this time we had two sons, Jeffery and John.  Jeff is an attorney in Little Rock while John lives here in Alleene and works on the farm.

In early 1967 with enough cement dust to do me for a lifetime, I went to work at Red River Army Depot where I worked as a manpower analyst until 1980 when I got a job in Houston with Brown & Root.

I spent most of my time with B&R in subcontracts (also as project manager and director over several divisions in Kosovo).   B&R sent me to some exotic places while providing a paycheck.  My more interesting jobs were located in Colorado, California, Alaska, Libya, New Jersey, South Carolina, Florida, St. Thomas USVI, and Kosovo (formerly part of Yugoslavia).  Also had jobs in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas.  When I retired from B&R I was one of six still working that had started the business unit that you read about often for their work providing services to the military in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere around the world.  The reality is better than the press we received!

Retirement from B&R (or KBR as it became known) was in October 2005.  The farm still demands some of my time but mostly the fairways beckon (okay, okay, the rough gets quite a bit of my time, too).

While I have traveled quite a bit, I have always known that our home was the place I really wanted to be and that SW Arkansas, for all its faults, is better than any other place I have been.

Alice and I look forward to renewing old friendships next summer with you guys.