Tireless worker devoted life to family, God

LLOYD BILLUPS | 1936-2008 Came up from Mississippi as a young man, got a job and sent money home

Born in Starkville, Miss., the eighth child of 13 born to poor parents, Lloyd Billups left his family as a teenager to seek his fortune with others in the great migration north.

Arriving in Chicago in 1953, he settled on the West Side, finding himself a factory job at Corn Products Corp. in 1955 that allowed him to send money home, and eventually support eight children of his own.

Above all, Mr. Billups, who was born in 1936, was a family man, who remained at the same company for the next 44 years, retiring in 1999, his family said.

Mr. Billups, 72, died April 29 at Little Company of Mary Hospital of complications from Alzheimer's disease.

"He was a man who always wanted the best for his family and his children and a man who always stood up for what he believed in," said his son, Raymond.

"His family always came first."

Mr. Billups met his wife, Ethel, in 1957 when she too migrated north from Mississippi, settling with relatives across the street from Mr. Billups in Garfield Park.

"I had been here for about a month," his wife of 50 years said. "My cousin introduced us."

He soon asked her out, and they went on their first date -- to the historic Riverview amusement park. There, he bought two heart-shaped charms for each of them, and they were officially going steady, Mrs. Billups said.

They were married less than a year later, on July 12, 1958, and had eight children.

"He was a handsome, joyful man. He was a family man. He loved his grandchildren and his great-grandchildren, and he especially loved to horse around with them," Mrs. Billups said.

"He loved meeting people. He was very friendly. The people he worked with will remember him in his early years as a man who loved to have a good time. He settled down in his later years, and those who knew him the last 20 years will remember him as a man of God, who loved to go to church and loved to talk to you about God," she said.

His family also remembered him as a good-natured man, who loved to go out to eat at different restaurants, loved to shop, and loved sports.

"He loved Tiger Woods, and Venus and Serena Williams," said his wife. "He also loved Barack Obama. He'd watch him on TV and he would say, 'Oh, that man is smart. He's going to make it. I'm going to see a black man become president someday.' I'm sorry that he didn't get to."

His children said their father was a quiet man, who didn't talk much, but also possessed an immense sense of humor, and could keep family and friends in stitches with dry one-liners.

"We'll always remember him by his welcoming 'No!,' " said his son, Marlon. "As soon as you walked in the door to visit him, he'd say, 'No!' He knew we were about to ask for something."

Survivors include six sons, Floyd, Raymond, Lawrence, Orlando, Andre and Marlon; two daughters, Sylvia and Cynthia; 21 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren; four sisters, Neva Dell MatthewJoh, Mary Coleman, Velma Brandt and Daisy Pots; and a brother, Johnny.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Greater Bethlehem Healing Temple, 12 S. Oakley Blvd. A wake will precede the funeral, at 10 a.m. Interment will be at Forest Home Cemetery.