- Date Of Birth: February 16, 1934
- Date Of Death: July 5, 2019
- State: Colorado
Billie Grace was born to Clarence and Helen Croft on February 16, 1934 in Chicago, Illinois. After a brief illness, she passed away in her home, surrounded by her family, on July 5, 2019 in Arvada, Colorado.
During her life, she lived in Michigan and then in Nebraska, where she attended the University of Nebraska and received a Bachelor of Music Education Degree. She was the only female percussion player in the University Band and she attracted her trumpet-playing, husband-to-be, with her flamboyance, energy and good looks. They married in 1957 and she spent five years as a Navy Wife and Mother before settling in Arvada with her husband, Daniel Grace. She spent the next 55 years working as a substitute band teacher in Jefferson County Schools along with teaching private percussion lessons in her basement; all the while being a wife and mother to her family.
When asked to describe Billie, friends and loved ones spoke of her as being kind, generous, helpful, a wonderful listener, a bright light to all who knew her and most of all, a real lady.
She is survived by her husband, Dan; son, Eric (Donna); daughters, Christi (Rob) and Andrea; four grandchildren, Sarah (Matt), Reid, Jesse (Kasha) and Holden and three great-grandchildren, Everlee, Larkyn and Justus.
