WILLIAM A. PRESTON

The following bio was taken from page 350 of the book entitled “Rusk County History” compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

 Transcribed by Claudia Schuster

 Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Cemeteries of Tx

 William Arnold (Billy) Preston, son of Edward M. and Opal Preston, has never lived more than four blocks from the home at 416 North High Street in which he was born in 1917.  While serving during World War II, he married Nancy Johnson (See Johnson family history.)  She was born in Laneville in 1918 to Charles and Jesse V. Johnson who moved to Henderson in 1932.  Both Nancy and Billy graduated from Henderson High in 1935.  Nancy graduated from Texas Woman’s University and was a first grade teacher in Henderson when they married.

 Billy now is president of Henderson Savings and Loan Association.  He was secretary of the organization starting in 1940.  He is also a co-owner of Preston Insurance Agency.  He retired from the Henderson Volunteer Fire Department in 1980 after forty years of service.  He is a past president of the Kiwanis Club and the Chamber of Commerce.  He received the John R. Alford Award in 1951.

 Billy and Nancy have two sons – Charles William (Bill), born in 1945, and Edward Arnold (Ned), born in 1950.  Bill graduated from Texas A & M University in 1968 and married Nancy Thompson of Burlingame, Kansas.  Nancy is a graduate of the University of Kansas.  Bill is co-owner of Preston Insurance Agency and the secretary of Henderson Savings and Loan Association.  Like his father and grandfather, he has served his community.  He is a past president of the Rotary Club and the Chamber of Commerce.  He received the John R. Alford Award in 1973 and the Wes Dean Award in 1975.  He and his wife Nancy have two daughters, Sarah Ellen (born in 1975) and Elisabeth Fern (born in 1978).  All of the Prestons are members of the First United Methodist Church.

 Ned graduated from Austin College, received a doctorate in English from the University of North Carolina, and is presently employed as a technical writer in Washington, D.C.

 Submitted by Bill Preston