Daughter of
William Herbert ("Bill") Batchelor,
and Frances June Bliss,
of Buchanan, Berrien County Michigan,
and then of Florida.
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Billie June has stated that as a young
girl in Buchanan, Michigan, she could
remember playing in McCoy's Creek
near Batchelor's Appliance Store and
service shop, in Buchanan, Michigan
which her grandfather owned, and where
her father worked, exploring the creek
and all it's critters, rounding up all
the crayfish.
---
Her family then moved to Florida,
and lived in numerous cities there.
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Billy June attended high school in
Stuart, Florida, and then Indian River
Community Collage, where she studied
criminal justice.
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(Her father William H. "Bill" Batchelor,
was "possibly" born on Dec. 23, 1932,
in Buchanan, Berrien County Michigan,
and died Feb. 26, 2002, in Morris County
New Jersey).
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Her parents were later divorced.
Billy June stated that she and her sister,
never heard from their father again.
They never knew what ever happened to him.
They tried to trace him once, with no luck.
---
Billy June then lived with her mother
Frances, and sister
Barbara Anne ("Bobbie") Batchelor,
in Englewood, Florida.
Her sister
Barbara Anne ("Bobbie") Batchelor
later moved out on her own.
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Billy June died in the
"Village Place Nursing and Rehabilitation"
(a.k.a. Village Place Health and
Rehabilitation Center), in Port Charlotte,
Charlotte county Florida, age 56.
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The following article/obituary for
Billie June was published in the
"Englewood Sun" newspaper,
in Englewood, Florida, on
Sunday, June 2, 2013, pages 1 and 14:
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Fire district misses B. J. Batchelor,
by Steve Reilly, staff writer.
ENGLEWOOD - Englewood residents may
not have recognized Billie June "B. J."
Batchelor, but if they called the
Englewood Area Fire Control District,
they knew her voice.
Batchelor, 56, died early Thursday
morning. Batchelor just retired April 15,
and had served the fire district since
it's inception in 1983. She also served
as a dispatcher for what had been the
Englewood volunteer department.
Batchelor served as the receptionist,
generally answering telephone calls,
but she did a lot more for the fire
district.
"She was an awesome lady,"
Englewood Fire Chief Scott Lane said.
"She knew all the ins and outs of the
fire district."
Lane said he and other firefighters
could depend on Batchelor. The fire
district will schedule a memorial
service for her at the end of June,
to notify and give retired fire
fighters the opportunity to attend
the service, Lane said.
Paulette Tomlinson worked with
Batchelor for 23 years.
"She was very quiet, a sweet girl,"
Tomlinson said. "She loved, loved,
loved the district, and she loved
her four cats. That was her life."
"She was very smart and very detailed,"
Tomlinson said, citing how Batchelor
would count district supplies down
to paperclips.
"She was really good on the phone and
helped a lot of people. She knew the
fire district backwards and forwards
and inside out."
Fire Commissioner Ron Davison said,
"She gave her life to this fire
district. This was her life - and she
did a good job of it."
Whenever Davison had a question or was
researching some aspect of the district,
he said he could depend on Batchelor to
track the information down and provide
it to him, often on the same day.
"And she was willing to work on any
project," he said.
Former Englewood fire commissioner
Dee Hawkins-Garland knew her for
decades and described Batchelor as
"the heart of the fire district."
Battalion Chief Pete Ojeda would agree.
"She was always kind, always smiling,
always in a good mood," Ojeda said.
"She saw firefighters come and go, but
I think she really cared about them.
"I will miss her so much," he said.
According to fire district records,
Batchelor started with the Englewood
volunteer department in June 1981.
Batchelor attended high school in
Stuart, Fla., and then Indian River
Community College, where she studied
criminal justice.
She also took creative writing classes
with the LaSalle Extension University,
and correspondence courses for motorcycle
repair.
She also earned training certificates
from the Florida Department of Agriculture
and Division of Forestry in rural
community fire protection. She trained
as a dispatcher with the Martin County
Sheriff's Office.
Englewood Community Funeral Home is
handling the arrangements.
Batchelor never married nor did she
have children. However, she pampered
and took exceptionally good care of
her four cats.
---------------------------------
Note: The cremains of
Billie June ("B. J.") Batchelor,
and of her mother
Frances June (Bliss) Batchelor,
were later buried (in the Spring of 2015),
next to Frances's mother
Cecile Gay (Upham) Bliss,
in the Oak Ridge Cemetery,
Buchanan, Berrien County Michigan
(in Section D, Lot # 211).
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