Roy, born October 27, 1935 in Sheridan, MI, came from a large family. His father, Robert Bills and his mother, Lavina (Hubbard), had ten children. The family moved to Gladwin and then Howard City in 1946, where Robert served as a teacher, principal and superintendant all at the same time. Occasionally, he did janitor work, too. Roy worked jobs at Wolverine Worldwide turning gloves for a time, but became a licensed contractor, working with his cousin, Connie Stevens, then formed his own company, Roy Bills Construction. He built houses in Howard City, Stanwood and Canadian Lakes for over five decades. His brothers, Wayne, Roger and son Leroy (Yog), made up his crew. Yog has followed in his footsteps along with grandson, Jeremy, and they continue to build today. Roy built custom homes and specialized in large log cabins. He was always busy, always had a project going. Roy is survived by first wife of 25 years, Ann E. (Wright), mother of his children. Daughter Rachel A. Bills (Ed Tusing), son Leroy (Yog), (Kathy) Bills and daughter Melody Mazurek. He married Arlene (Force), his wife and partner for 38 years. Arlene brought four sons into the marriage whom Roy loved. They are: Dennis (Cheryl) Force, Don (Cindy) Force, Dave (Lisa) Force, Scott (Toni) Force. Roy has 14 grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews. Surviving also are three of Roy’s siblings: Louise Culver, Luella Ludlow and Lorraine Moore (Phil). Preceded in death are siblings: Robert, Wayne, Raymond, Ray, Loretta Scram and Roger. Roy wanted everyone to know that his life-long best buddy, Bill Spence, was by his side through his illness and the last days of his life. Near the end of his life, although Roy could barely walk and was very weak, he was determined to go up town to the Howard City Senior Citizens Hall to listen to country and gospel music. Arlene and Melody took him there where friends greeted him. Roy requested Good Hearted Woman. Then Dennis, one of the guitarists, placed his guitar in his hands, handed him a pick and said, “ All you have to do is strum.” There wasn’t a dry eye in the place. Back home, drained and exhausted, Roy said, “That was a good day.” Artist Roy Elijah Bills, 81, painted portraits on the backs of over one hundred guitars; although, he never played the instrument. Most portraits were of celebrities such as Dolly Parton, Elvis, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Reba McEntire, Tim McGraw, Waylon Jennings, Kris Khristofferson and many others. Roy autographed most of them, and both Loretta Lynn and Vince Gill own one of the stunning guitars. Roy and his guitar art were featured on the country show Crook & Chase, and featured in Country Weekly Magazine, the Chicago Tribune and Wood-TV. Many of Roy’s guitars were sold and, hopefully, will become part of the Grand Ole Opry Country muserm. He was also an accomplished landscape artist. Close to two hundred friends and family members attended Roy’s 75th birthday party in 2010. That’s because Roy made friends wherever he went. He just loved people. He gave away hundreds of jars of pickles, freeezer jam and tomatoes to everyone in town, family members and anyone who dropped by for a visit. Roy Bills was a story-teller and loved to tell jokes, often a little off-color. One Veterans’ Day, he and a friend were flying over the Howard City cemetery with plans to drop poppies from the plane onto the cemetery. Which they did. But his friend, Jr. (Junior), clipped some pine trees, and had to make an unscheduled landing. Since no one was hurt, the story became legend. In school, Roy spent his time sketching instead of paying attention to the teacher. One teacher to. ld him that if he wasn’t going to pay attention, he might as well throw his books in the wastebasket. Which was just what Roy did and never went back to school.