SOUTHERN ILLINOIS – William Lee (Bill) Rea
Bill Rea passed away April 23rd, 2025.
Bill was born on January 2nd, 1937, at home to Willie and Daphna (Eickelmann) Rea in the rural Mt. Pleasant community. A graduate of Mt. Pleasant Grade School, Valier High School and Southern Illinois University, Bill was very entrepreneurial and ready to take risks. He wrote and published his own independent newspaper while in high school, left the University of Illinois the second he turned 18 to join the Army and then the 82nd Paratroopers to earn extra “Jump Pay” and prove that he had a little more courage than the average fellow. He spent two years stationed in Germany at the height of the Cold War and his unit was mobilized at the time of the Hungarian Uprising in 1956 to “jump into” Hungary and take on the Soviet tanks if war were declared. When questioned by his son later in life if he was scared, he replied “Not really. I just thought that things would work out.” Those two sentences capture the essence of how he lived his life.
Bill was involved in several business activities – farming, building and selling houses, creating a version of PayPal for fellow G.I.s in Germany, but he spent most of his working life in the insurance industry as Adjustory, Field Agent and later co-owner and owner of Independent Insurance Agencies in Harrisburg, Equality and Johnson City.
While attending SIU Carbondale in the fall of 1959, he met Judy Venoski of Herrin. They fell in love, were quickly engaged and married on January 16th, 1960, at St. Mary’s Church in Herrin, in front of a beautiful altar crafted by the Italian artisans who settled Herrin in the early 20th Century. The young couple lived in Champaign, Illinois, St. Louis and Marion before purchasing in 1965, and later remodeling, the Palmer and Norma Rea farmhouse in which his father and aunts and uncles had been raised. Bill and Judy travelled widely – in the United States and overseas – Europe, the Caribbean, Asia, Malta- and loved reading and watching shows about different places, people and ideas. But Bill was very much a product of the Mt. Pleasant Community and its people. From his childhood home, he had a direct view of Mt. Pleasant School. From the second story office of his home, he could see his Uncle Wesley Rea’s home and farm, and later his cousin Mark’s, his good friend, Rudy Uhles childhood home, the Mt. Pleasant Church that he attended as a youth, and the cemetery where so many of his family were buried, including his beloved parents, and in which he will be buried.
Bill was confident, optimistic, caring and very generous of his time with his wife, friends, family and virtually everyone who came into contact with him. No wife had a better husband, no son had a better father, and no grandsons had a better grandpa.
Bill was preceded in death by both parents, and an infant daughter, Robbie Lee Rea. Surviving are his wife, Judy; son and daughter-in-law, Steve and Diana Rea; grandsons, John Palmer Rea and Will Lee Phillips Rea, brother-in-law, Charlie Venoski; and his best friend since 1942, Bob Smith; along with several cousins.
Funeral services will be Saturday, April 26, 2025, at 11 a.m., at Gilbert Funeral Home in Christopher with Reverend Bill Uhles officiating. Visitation will be from 9 a.m. until the time of the service. Burial will follow at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery.
For more information go to our website www.gilbertfuneralhomes.com.
