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• HOME • GENERAL STORE • NATURAL HERITAGE • HISTORY, CULTURE & CRAFTSMANSHIP |
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People of the Hills
• DON BILYEU |
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| Don Bilyeu • Tomato Canning People of the Hills Index • ELIAS TUCKER • DON BILYEU • CINDY CLARK • CHICK ALLEN • VIOLET HENSLEY • VIRGINIA SNYDER Culture Index • Agriculture • Book Learning • Cooking • Craftsmanship • Faith in the Hills • History • Music • People of the Hills • Storytelling • Tourism |
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“People have a little, mistaken idea due to Hollywood and other places, about a hillbillly.
“But I am a hillbilly. And the hill people: they had a creed. They were the most honest, caring people. And they took care of each other.”
Don Bilyeu was born in 1938 and raised in the Bull Creek Community between Branson and Ozark, Missouri. He went to school at Enterprise, a one-room school with eight grades (Plate 2).
Don has witnessed a lot of changes in Ozark Mountain country. Recalling traffic on Highway 65, back when it still ran through Highlandville, “There were some winter days you could sit and watch all day and only see one car go by.”
Straightforward, yet tempered with grace,” says Elias Tucker, “Rugged in character but as gentle and soft-hearted a man as you’ll ever want to meet.”
Don, with wife Shirley, farm a 125-acre farm near Sparta, Missouri. Don also works for the City of Ozark. They are members of the Smyrna Baptist Church.
And it is an honor to include his recollections here on StateoftheOzarks.
— Joshua Heston
August 15, 2009
August 15, 2009
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