- Date Of Birth: March 18, 1928
- Date Of Death: May 17, 2017
- State: New Mexico
Billy Fred Massey was born March 18, 1928 in Kaufman, Texas, the middle son of O’Dell and Beatrice Massey. His time on earth ended May 17, 2017. He is survived by his two sons, Randy Lee Massey, and his wife Vicki, and Ricky Alan Massey and his wife Bobbie, all of Animas; Two brothers, William Massey of Animas and Milton Massey and his wife Carolyn of El Paso, Texas; five Grandchildren, Tammy Pompeo and her husband Mike of Animas, Tisha Loranc of Las Cruces, Alysha Wagley and her husband Sam of Animas, Scott Massey and his wife Carrie of Animas, and Cash Massey and his wife Kanzas also of Animas; and 12 great-grandchildren… Dallas and Troy Pompeo, Jaxon, Kaylee and Jaci Loranc, Rayce, Ty and Coy Wagley, Jade and Cap Massey and Lindsey and Piper Massey, He was preceded in death by his parents O’Dell and Beatrice Massey and his daughter-in-law Sheila Massey.
Older family members called him Billy Fred, more people knew him as Bill, but when the first grandchild, Tammy, came along she dubbed him Daddy Bill and the name stuck. Shortly after Billy Fred was born the family moved to Houston where his dad worked for the Hughes Tool Company before moving to Fabens, Texas in around 1931. Bill, as most knew him, grew up on the Lee Moor farms and graduating from Fabens High School. After graduation he moved to present-day Green Valley Arizona helping his dad and brother run a thousand-acre farm. He married Carleen Lyerly of Tucson, in 1946. They raised two sons, Randy Lee and Ricky Alan.
Bill’s lifelong passion was farming, starting as a water boy, carrying buckets of water to the men in the fields for fifty cents a day. When he was big enough to reach the peddles he began driving a tractor. In 1952 when the Animas Valley was beginning to be opened up to farming, Billy Fred and his brother William Moore both bought farms here. A year later their father followed them to Animas. They successfully scratched out a living growing cotton and raising a family through the 1950’s and 60’s. When Randy and Ricky graduated from college Massey Enterprises was formed.
Bill was always open to change. Over the years the farm produced, cotton, milo, corn, chile, jalapenos, pinto beans, wheat, barley, oat hay and alfalfa. With each new crop Bill and the boys worked hard to make the best possible yield. There were very few pieces of farm equipment that were not modified in some way by Bill and his boys. He was forever tinkering. Together, Bill and the boys helped revolutionize growing cotton on 30 inch rows adapting a cotton stripper to the new spacing. A few years later Case International and John Deere introduced machines for the “New” row spacings. In July of 1985, Bill was featured on the cover of the Cotton Farming magazine.
When Massey Enterprises began growing Chile, it wasn’t long before Bill once again became obsessed with finding a better way. First it was by growing chile under sprinkler irrigation, which everyone said it could not be done. Then by narrowing the rows it was grown on, and finally inventing a chile picker to harvest the crop. By now he had the grandson’s involved as they all worked together and invented and built the “Massey Pepper Harvester” in their shop. When they were done, their machine would harvest three truck loads of Jalapenos in 6 ½ hours. This would take 200 men to do the same, and according to Border Foods, the chile was cleaner than hand picked.
Bill loved farming. He loved his family. He loved John Wayne and he loved Mickey Mouse. He passed these passions on to the generations to follow. Bill always said his goal was to have a thousand-acre farm and own a pickup. Well he succeeded in accomplishing that and much more, farming with his family and attaining great success in such a tough industry.
