Billiee Pendleton-Parker

“I can’t believe it” I uttered to myself when I heard the awful news.

I met Billiee in 2011. Billiee Pendleton-Parker (BP-P as she is affectionally known), The Assistant Director of the President’s Scholarship Program at Georgia Tech, was a surrogate mom to my two kids during their college years. In the pressure cooker that GT can oftentimes be, Billiee was the pressure relief valve. She was the irreplaceable softer side of Georgia Tech.

She was wise, smart, kind, and available. Did you fail a test? Forget an assignment? Fall up the stairs in a crowded lecture hall? Did a significant other dump you? Did a professor treat you unfairly? Was your roommate a jerk? In every type and time of need, she was there to offer a shoulder to cry on and sage words of advice. “You can do ANYthing as long as you know it’s temporary” she would say.  Billiee’s heart was oversized and made of pure white and old gold. She had a sixth sense that alerted her to anyone who needed extra love and attention.

Billiee was a soft spoken southerner who also had a keen sense of humor. She loved “Bling” - sparkles, glitter, bold colors, confetti, decorations and glitz. She adorned herself and her office for every single holiday. She celebrated them all; in fact Billiee found that every single day was a cause for celebration.   

“Strive for significance not success” she frequently advised. And to her, the best way to be significant was through a life of service. As an unwavering advocate of volunteerism and community service she annually encouraged students to make MLK Day a “Day ON not a day off”. Savannah became her protégé  and with Billiee’s guidance she organized community service events for MLK Day, Hands On Atlanta weekend each fall, and even became President of Alternative Service Breaks.

In 2013 following an absence due to health issues, Billiee returned to campus. She was no longer able to drive herself, but she was not deterred. A detailed “Driving Miss Billiee” spreadsheet was created and an army of devoted students took turns getting her to and from campus each day. As time went on her mobility continued to erode and she became unable to step up into my Jake’s SUV.  Still determined to continue service to her beloved “Techies” though, she instructed Jake to drive to the back of The Bill Moore Student Success Center where he could pull up very close to the steps and she could more easily get into or out of his car.

November 1, 2014 was homecoming day on campus and it was bitterly cold and windy! I stood shivering as the Wreck Parade slowly passed - The Mr. and Ms. GT Candidates in classic convertibles followed by the contraptions. I was freezing and I couldn’t wait to get out of there. As the parade concluded I sprinted toward my parked car, but as I passed the corner of Ferst and Fowler Streets I saw Billiee. Perched atop a narrow raised platform surrounded on all sides by adoring students all 40 years her junior, she was serving as the parade’s Grand Marshal. Billiee would have been 62 years old at that time and was suffering serious health complications, yet there she was - smiling ear to ear, bundled from head to toe in gold, dutifully judging the parade entrants in wind chills near zero! There was simply no way that she was gonna decline an invitation to serve GT and be among her beloved “Techies”.

In 2016 I was a part of a group that helped Billiee relocate from her condo in what she called “Fake Decatur” to a smaller place without stairs. That is when I discovered a bedroom in her home that contained a treasure trove of GT paraphernalia so vast that it would have made the GT bookstore envious - yellow jacket earrings, bracelets, pins, stationary, hats, gloves, necklaces, spirit wear, flags, awards, photographs and more. So.Much.More. Further evidence of her love and devotion for all things Georgia Tech.

Getting Billiee’s belongings packed, moved and the condo sold was a herculean task and Billiee became the recipient of the selfless generosity and volunteerism she had encouraged for years. Countless current and former students pitched in to help; They packed, moved, painted and even tackled some plumbing and electrical tasks. Former students who lived far away even contacted me to ask how they could contribute.

Over the past five years BP-P and I have spent a good amount of time together. When I visited  we would sit and talk over pimento cheese, crackers and those soft frosted cookies from the grocery store deli. She told me many stories about growing up in North Carolina, her family and of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. I frequently called her “William”; a reference to the fact that she was named (Billiee Geraldine) after her father, William Gerald Pendleton. But nothing ever brought a sparkle to her eyes as did the stories she told of her years at Georgia Tech. She was unofficial Georgia Tech royalty and in that capacity she met many famous people and even participated in the ceremonial parts of 1996 Summer Olympics. But more important to her was the lives of the students she loved. There was a place on her wall for a photo of every single one of them, and a place in her heart for every single one as well. It is perfectly fitting that she has recently been selected to receive an honorary degree from Georgia Tech.

Billiee faced many struggles, but always kept a positive attitude and kept her focus on others. She always asked about me and my family and she never missed an opportunity to teach me. “Live so that, when you’re gone, people will remember (for all the good and right reasons) that you were here.” She surely lived by her own advice and wisdom!

Billiee ended all of our visits with a soft, sincere, “I love you, Audrey” and I know that she did.

I am grateful that our earthly paths ran parallel for the past ten years. Like countless others, I am immeasurably richer for my association with BP-P

Tonight I quietly consider the loss of my friend and as I do, the world seems lonely and colder. I wonder who will be there to take the rough edges off these difficult days? Who will encourage us to find the goodness in others? Who will offer understanding and compassion where it may be undeserved? Then I realize that it is us! We are Billiee’s Living Legacy! We owe it to her to serve our fellow man, to be peacemakers and to love one another in spite of our differences - all things she taught us through her constant example.

I realize now hat it’s not so much that ‘I can’t believe’ she will no longer be a part of my daily life, so much as it is that ‘I don’t want to believe it.”

Thank you for everything and I love you too, William <3