Remembering Billy
One of my best friends in grade school Billy Katillus lived in that house across the street from where this cache is located. Back in the early fifties this area was almost 9 miles out in the country. The western edge of the city limits at that time was present day University Avenue which was called Hayes street back then. Billy’s folks Stanley and Anne had a farm and raised cows. I have many great memories of spending the weekend with Billy while we were in grade school together at Holy Souls and walking around in the woods behind his house. I would have my bag packed for the weekend and my mom would pick up Billy and I after school and take us to University and Hayes street where we would catch a bus operated by the Houston Bigalow Bus line that would drop us off right in front of Billy’s house. To learn more about the Houston Bigalow Bus Lines be sure and visit my Remember Again on Highway 10 cache GC4TDX4 . When we were in high school at Catholic High some friends and I would come out on Saturday morning and hunt rabbits or squirrels with Billy in the area south of Cantrell all the way to the river. In the early 60s Billy’s mom wanted to move into town so they put the farm up for sale and built a house on Evergreen close to Forest Heights Junior high. As they tried to sell the farm, the house sat empty all winter and the floors warped. After months of not being able to sell their farm they ended up selling the house on Evergreen and staying where they were presently living. Billy was always a hard worker and when they built Lake Maumelle he went to work for the first boat dock to open on the lake and would help carry boat motors and fishing equipment down to the dock when the customers came to go fishing. After he graduated from high school Billy would still work summers at the marina to help with college expenses. During his junior year at Arkansas Tech Billy had a mole taken off of his back and after a biopsy it was determined to be cancerous. I never did hear exactly what type of cancer it was but based on similar cases I have heard of over the years I figure that it was probably melanoma because about a year after his diagnosis Billy passed away and I had to say goodbye to a great friend gone too soon. You are looking for a bison tube hidden in a unique way. This is a very high traffic area with a lot of muggles passing by so please use stealth when looking for the cache and once you locate it take the container back to vehicle to sign so as not to appear to obvious. This cache was hidden with the permission of the business owner, who when I approached to introduce myself and ask permission to place this cache, I was surprised to learn that I already knew him as I had worked with him many years . He volunteered for years serving on the Riverfest Committee as well as the Riverfest Board of Directors bringing Riverfest to the banks of the Arkansas River every Memorial Day weekend.