Billie Jean Bonner Hughes passed away on Thursday, December 14, 2017, at her home in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Billie was the daughter of George H. Bonner, Sr. and Thelma Elizabeth Coose Bonner. She was born on the family farm near Tichnor, Arkansas, on November 8, 1931. She attended high school in Gillett, Arkansas, and graduated with the Senior Class of 1949. Following her high school graduation, Billie attended nursing school at Baptist Hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas, graduating with her diploma as a Registered Nurse in 1953. She later attended Bethany Nazarene College, in Bethany, Oklahoma, where she met and married her husband James "Ken" Kenneth Hughes on June 7, 1957, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Billie was the first in her family to graduate from high school, then she ventured away from home to gain her nursing and college education. She used her position as a Registered Nurse, working at various hospitals in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas, to support her family and help her husband and one of her sisters to gain their college educations.
Billie had a heart for missions, and she visited and ministered in multiple countries in Asia, Africa, South and Central America, the Caribbean and Europe. She lived for nearly three years in Puerto Rico, driving two hours over the mountains to attend church each week. During her life, she served in multiple leadership roles in the Nazarene Church, such as a church board member, youth leader and missionary president. She was known for her beautiful singing voice that she used as a member of a college singing group, The Gospel Team, and in church choirs and as a soloist in her later adult life.
Billie loved adventure. She led her family on a trip into the boundary waters in the Canadian wilderness where they camped, fished, and canoed. Her family of five often went on camping trips around the country. They took a small camper from Oklahoma to Yellowstone National Park, and took other family adventures to Oregon, Alaska, the Grand Canyon and numerous other places.
Throughout her life, Billie was inspired by and supported the work of Billy Graham, her favorite author and preacher. She was a fierce prayer-warrior and loyally sponsored children from all over the world for over thirty years.
She was also a hospice volunteer in Bartlesville. During her early years in Bartlesville, she was employed at Jane Phillips Hospital as a nurse and occasionally worked as a private duty nurse and a substitute school nurse in the Bartlesville Public Schools.
For Billie, her faith in God and her love for family came above all else. She was a devout Christian, fiercely loyal to family and friends, and loved by many. She brought joy to everyone around her, and was known as a prankster in her youth. Her sense of humor would have others falling out of their chairs laughing. As a youth leader, she once dressed as a member of the Beatles and burst into the youth room singing “All You Need is Love,” to the delight of the church youth and to the surprise of the adults!
Her sparkle, warmth, humor, determination and legacy will continue on in the many lives she touched during her 86 years on this Earth. She will be dearly missed and fondly remembered by her family and the many friends she leaves behind.
Billie is survived by her husband, Ken, and her daughter, Sandra Jeannine Payne (Dewey) of Bartlesville; and her sons, George Kendall Hughes (Faye Anne) of Stewartville, Minnesota; and Alan David Hughes (Jolene) of Olathe, Kansas. She is also survived by her grandsons, Brian Payne, Travis Payne, Joshua Hughes and Christopher Hughes and granddaughters, Bethany Hughes, Annastacia Hughes Daugherty, Kimberly Hughes, Elizabeth Hughes and Rebecca Hughes. She has one great-grandson, Owen Daugherty. Two sisters survive Billie, Betty Bonner Wallace (Charles) of DeWitt, Arkansas, and Suzie Bonner Rice (Caleb) of Maumelle, Arkansas.
Billie was preceded in death by her parents; a brother, G.H. Bonner, Jr.; and two sisters, Sallie Anne Bonner Williams and Ruth Vadean Bonner Marshall.

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