(there was a photo but it was too dark to see)

THE CURTAIN DROPS—BILLY’S DEAD

Death is a serious matter, accordingly so treated by newspapers, and thus it should read that William Tremaine, 71, of Blair succumbed Monday night after a heart attack.

But that kind of treatment wouldn’t have been exactly approved by Billy Tremain. “Just tell ‘em Billy died,” he would have said. So that’s how it will be, boys.

Billy met up suddenly with the serious thing that is death. Walking to his rooming house at 6pm Monday, Billy, for years a picturesque character in Blair, dropped to the sidewalk as he was passing the post office building. Passersby carried him into the lobby where a doctor pronounced him dead.

It was that quick.

Death is a serious thing, indeed. But had it been a broken leg he suffered, instead of a fatal heart attack, Billy would have enjoyed the circumstances surrounding the flurry he created. Billy always loved a crowd and excitement, and there were both when he dropped to the sidewalk.

“Call me Billy”, Tremaine used to say when anyone referred to him as William. So they called him Billy—the boys downtown, the sheriff and police (with whom he collided occasionally, but still kept as friends) and the bartenders.

They were recalling some of the events in his life this week.

Somebody was reminded of the time Billy was host at a stag party a few years back at his shack near DeSoto. It was a cold night. Billy and his guests built such a roaring fire in the stove that the first thing they knew the whole place was afire. That was in the days before fuel rationing.

Billy was not a stranger before the bar of justice, although by no means to be considered a regular offender. He had his weaknesses, but they didn’t outweigh his friendliness and good humor. Once he felt himself fitted to serve as jailer at the county bastille, and got the job.

The funeral for Billy will be held at 2pm Friday at the Bendorf Funeral Home, burial to follow in Blair cemetery. There may not be an overflow crowd at the service, but there will be those who will truly miss their friend.

Billy Tremaine was born November 26, 1871 in Harrison county, Iowa, but spent most of his life in and near Blair. He has a brother, Dick, living in Blair, and another brother, Ed, of Fremont.

~~~Obituary courtesy of the Nebraska Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Public Library, Blair, Nebraska ~~~

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