photo by Amy Collins

Billy Atchison

Billy Atchison remembered

By Katie Nichols (Contact) | Selma Times-Journal

Published Monday, September 1, 2008

Selma and Dallas County lost a hard-working, loyal and dedicated community servant Sunday.

Billy Atchison, 52, died as a result of a yearlong battle with lung cancer.

“He was an inspiration,” Janet, his wife, said. “He fought and fought until his last breath.”

Atchison’s contributions to the community were significant, especially in the area of law enforcement and public safety. A former member of law enforcement, Atchison began the Crime Stoppers program in Selma, served on the board of the SABRA Society, which protects battered women and founded the Public Safety Insurance Fund in Dallas County, which provides additional life and accidental death insurance policies for law enforcement officers if they die in the line of duty.

Atchison served as president of the Selma Rotary Club and was an active Rotarian for many years. He worked alongside ArtsRevive, worked with Leadership Selma and, this year, co-chaired the American Cancer Society Relay for Life Walk for a Cure. He also served on the Selma/ Dallas County Economic Development Authority Board of Directors.

All this he accomplished while working as business office manager for Alabama Power Company.

For his total commitment, Alabama Power Company surprised Atchison in July with the Southern Star Award at a public reception at the St. James Hotel.

“Billy really was an extraordinary person,” said Atchison’s co-worker Margaret Bentley, area manager for Alabama Power. “He wanted to make a difference in the community, and he certainly did.”

Art Scoggins, operations manager for the company, pointed out how Atchison loved his community and the Black Belt. “He was passionate about serving the people of this area. He will certainly be missed by his family, his power company family and the citizens of this entire area.”

Mike Reynolds, owner of Selma radio stations WHBB AM and WDXX FM, recalls the Meadowview Christian School 10th-grader from Orrville he met through a friend.

“He was a guy who absolutely loved life as much as anyone I’ve ever known,” he said. “He lived 150 years in 50. He was always so full of life and enjoyed every minute of it.”

Atchison finished college at Auburn. He worked in Tuscaloosa until 2000 when a tornado ripped through the area and damaged the Atchisons’ house.

“At that time, a job came open in Selma,” Janet Atchison said. “Well, when the opportunity came for him to move back home, he just went for it. When he came here, he just blossomed. He just loved this area.”

Atchison thrived on the external relations required by his job, which was to manage the local Power Company office, and to insure his company’s role in community development.

“Alabama Power has money to give to the community, and he used it for whatever was needed,” Janet Atchison said.

“Any fundraiser that involved Alabama Power, he was the one who was behind it,” Atchison’s son, Tommy, said.

Atchison brought people together. He was a member of the Tuesday Night Club, where businessmen of all races get together across the dinner table and discuss how to help move Selma forward.

Through his networking, he developed close friendships in the business community.

Les Smith and Catesby Jones of First Cahaba Bank talked about Atchison’s friendship and how they valued it.

“We met at the power company and bonded,” Smith said. “We became fast friends. He was one of a kind, special and unique.”

Said Jones, “The first time I met him was when I was at another bank. I took him out to dinner, and we just bonded quickly.”

Mayor-elect George Evans was with Atchison on Sunday. He skipped church to go see his golfing buddy, thinking Atchison would pull through a bad spell as he had before.

“He was one of the best friends you could have,” Evans said. “He was someone you could always count on. He would try to help anyone out.”

Atchison was active in his church. He was a member of the Men’s Sunday School Class at Church Street United Methodist Church. Class members provided support for him when he was ill. “He developed a good relationship with them,” Janet said. “It became really special to him. I think he really went through a lot of this with them. They were a real big support for him.”

An avid outdoorsman, Atchison made hunting fun for his sons and their friends, like Smith’s son Trent, taking him hunting from time to time on his family’s land in the Browns community in West Dallas County.

Tommy Atchison said his dad made hunting enjoyable. “It wasn’t boring. You always sat with him. You didn’t stay somewhere off by yourself.”

Above all, his family said, Atchison was a family man and his illness made him focus more on his family.

“He loved his family, our sons, daughter-in-laws, and grandchildren,” Janet said. “He was so proud of our boys.”

Atchison’s other son, Hank, told a story that summed up the selflessness that his father exemplified.

“Two weeks ago, (as opposed to dying suddenly) dad said he wouldn’t have done it any other way,” he said. “He said he wouldn’t have chosen this path if God would have asked him, but he wouldn’t have changed it just for the time we got to spend together this year. That struck me because that is so unselfish to say when you’re battling cancer. That meant a lot to me.”

Tommy looked to his father’s legacy.

“His impact was great,” he said. “It’s not even close to over.”

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