Billie Jean Clements

Billie Jean Landis was born on February 27th 1926 to Charles Henry Landis and Isobel McCarty Landis. She died April 27th 2014. She was the youngest child of 10 children. Her six sisters were Lucy Bell, Ora Ferguson, Faye Oldham, Ruth Richards, Pauline Rhode, Mary Doss and her three brothers were Gene Landis, Luther Landis and Cullen Landis. Billie Jean was preceded in death by all of her siblings except for Cullen Landis. Billie Jean is survived by her Husband Robert Monroe Clements and her Son: Michael Clements and His wife Loanne Clements and grand children Nathan Clements, Angela Drake and husband Darren Drake and great grand children: Rina and Ravi Drake of Washington. Also her Son: Brett Clements and his wife Rikke Clements and grand children: Joshua Clements and Chloe Clements of Tomball, Texas. She is also survived by many nieces and nephews and great, great, great nieces and nephews. Billie Jean Landis was married to Robert Monroe Clements on June 15th 1943 in Cameron, Texas when she was 17 and Robert had just turned 18. Billie had to get parental permission to get married and her parents agreed, provided she would stay at home if Robert was shipped off to serve in the military. Robert had just been drafted on his 18th birthday in May. Several months later, Robert was shipped off to Sacramento California to an army base. They were both apart for about 6 months and he finally found an apartment off base and sent for Billie. She went to her parents and told them she knew she had promised to stay home but she couldn’t stand to be away from her husband. She decided to travel to Sacramento via train and her parents reluctantly agreed. Billie made the 3 day trip across country and her mother Isobel took her only overcoat and sewed all of her money in the lining of the coat. She was afraid that Billie would be mugged or robbed. When Billie arrived at the train station, she got off the train and left her coat behind on her seat. As the train was pulling out of the station, she screamed to a fellow GI that she left her coat on the train. When he found out all her money was in the lining of the coat, he ran and jumped on the train and was able to retrieve her coat before it left the station. Billie and Robert lived in Sacramento for about 18 months. Robert was shipped to Missouri for a period of time while in the Signal Corp. While in Missouri, Billie went and lived with her Sister Lucy Bell in Dallas. She got a job in a department store. Robert would ride the train every other weekend all night from Missouri to Dallas just so they could be together for about six hours. He would then board the train for the all night trip back to the base in Missouri. After about another 18 months, Robert was able to get transferred to San Antonio to the base, with the help of his brother in law Emry Bell. Emry was an oral surgeon in the Army and was able to go to the commanding officer in San Antonio and request a transfer for Robert to the army base there. He was approved for the transfer and was able to spend almost every weekend with Billie and Lucy and Emry in Dallas. After about a year, Billie was able to move to San Antonio with Robert after he found an apartment. While in San Antonio, Billie worked at Fort Sam Houston and processed all of the returning GI’s from Europe and the Pacific. Her job was to document their individual experiences of war into the national archives. Robert and Billie had their first son, Michael Douglas Clements on July 18th 1948. When Robert was released from the army, he found employment at International Harvester in San Antonio. They remained in San Antonio until 1949, when Robert was transferred with International Harvester to Houston. Nine years later, they had their second son Brett Wallace Clements on May 13th 1958 Billie was baptized into the name of Christ and became a Christadelphian on February 23rd, 1959. Both of her parents were Christadelphians, as were both of Billie’s Grand Parents. She was very faithful and active in preaching the Gospel to any who would listen. She knew her bible well. She could quote scripture and was not shy in discussing the Bible. In fact anyone that knew Billie, was aware, she was not shy about anything. She never gave up preaching to her husband Robert. In fact in those early days, there was a week day bible class at Robert and Billie’s home. Brother Howard Phillips taught class in their home and ten years later, Robert was baptized into the name of Christ on June 3rd 1968. Billie was always interested in studying the scriptures and both she and Robert continually opened their home to bible study and visiting speakers. Christadelphian Brethren from England and Australia stayed many times with them. They would stay up to early hours of the morning discussing the scriptures and then get up and go to work on only a few hours of sleep. Their love for each other has been a spiritual example of continual dedication and sacrifice for each other. A love that knows no bounds. They celebrated 70 years of marriage together in 2013 and would have celebrated 71 years of marriage this June. Billie has suffered the effects of mortality these last 20 years. She battled Breast Cancer in 1991 and 1998. With God’s blessing, she beat the cancer. But in 2002, she started experiencing the early effects of Dementia. It was about 2006 that Brett, Rikke and family and Robert and Billie decided to move to Tomball Texas to build houses next door to each other. This was a great joy to both families and Robert took care of his loving wife day in and day out. As the years went by, Billie’s mental and physical health continued to decline. Robert being the loving and self sacrificing husband took on the ever increasing responsibilities of her physical and mental care. He manifested on a daily basis, a never dying love and devotion to Billie. In December 2013, Billie’s late stage dementia coupled with congestive heart failure, required her to be moved to Down Home Personal Care in Tomball Texas. Robert could not continue to take care of her daily needs any longer. It was very hard for him to make this decision but her physical needs far exceeded what strength he could provide. He did however go every single day and spend hours sitting with her and bringing her ice cream and treats. He could hardly stand to see the love of his life, slowly waste away. He is however comforted by knowing that she sleeps now in Christ. She waits till the Masters Call. Her next thought will be when she is raised from the dead. He is comforted in knowing that he will see her again!

Billie Jean Clements

April 27, 2014