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William (“Bill”) Maxwell Soyars passed away on July 2, 2019 at the age of 93 years. He was born on April 15, 1926 in Edinburg, Texas, where his father was a coach in the school system. His parents were Erwin and Bernice Soyars both being graduates of Southwest Texas State Teachers College (“SWT”), now Texas State University, in San Marcos. Bill was the second son and later joined by a sister, both of whom have predeceased him. Bill’s roots were deep at SWT, Dr. C.E. Evans, Bill’s maternal grandfather, was the President of SWT for 32 years. Bill remembered his maternal grandmother letting the grandkids skate in the attic of the then President’s home on the Hill.
The family eventually moved to Sabinal, Texas, where his father farmed and ranched. Bill and his brother rode horseback 8 miles roundtrip to a one room school several miles away called Trio School. The family later moved into the town of Sabinal where the children all went to school. Bill excelled in sports, especially football. After graduation, Bill hitchhiked to College Station to enroll in Texas A&M. Bill was able to play on the Aggie Varsity team as a walk on. Up until 2008, that team was the only Aggie team to ever play in the Orange Bowl. This team was called the “Kiddie Korps” because many of the upper classman athletes had already been drafted into the military for World War II leaving only the underclassman.
However, Uncle Sam had other plans for Bill and he was drafted into the Air Force his sophomore year and served in Italy the last 6 months of World War II. After the war was over and he returned home to Sabinal he rekindled a romance with one of his high school sweethearts, Mary Howard, and they married on April 20, 1946. Bill went back to A&M to play football and finish his degree. The Government was paying all GI’s to return to school and get their educations, but the living expenses were very high. Their first son, William (“Little Bill”) Howard Soyars, was born in Bryan, Texas on July 15, 1947, and a second son, Thomas (“Tom”) Erwin Soyars being born on May 8, 1950. Bill sold watermelons to pay the hospital and he made & sold leather belts with Mary putting the finishing touches on them with the dye.
After suffering a severe football injury which ended his football career, Bill tried out and made the A&M rodeo team as a roper. He and his brother both graduated from A&M on the same day from different schools — one from Animal Husbandry, the other from Veterinary School. In May 1950, Bill’s young family moved back to Sabinal and Bill went into ranching. His oldest son, Little Bill, later followed in his father’s footsteps and runs a cattle operation based out of Sabinal.
In 1951, Bill finished his flight training that he had started back in 1944. In 1956 there was a severe drought and cattle prices went to rock bottom. Bill was able to get on with the Army Air Corps as a flight instructor at the Camp Gary Army School in San Marcos, Texas and he moved his family to San Marcos. He instructed Army students for 3,000 hours, then purchased his own planes, and continued flying—accumulating over 18,000 hours of flying time over the next 50 years.
From 1945 to 2005, Bill hunted and guided hunters on out of state mule deer hunts and pack trips. Bill hunted wild sheep from Baja California to Alaska. In the 1960’s Bill took his sons on several of these weeks long pack trips to places that could only be reached by mule or horseback. His youngest son, Tom, has carried on the family hunting and pack trip tradition, taking Bill’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren. In 1973, Bill was fortunate to go on an old-time tent safari to Africa where he killed 4 of the big 5 dangerous animals.
In the late 1930’s Bill started to caddy for golfers and remembers being paid a nickel to carry the bag for 9 holes. In the 1940’s he started trying to hit golf balls, but didn’t really start playing until the 1950’s after he realized he was not going to be able to continue rodeoing because it cost too much money. In the 1980’s Bill won a number of Pro-Am golf tournaments during which time he had the honor of playing with a number of professional golfers like Jack Nicklaus and celebrities like Charlie Pride. Bill continued playing golf at Onion Creek after his 1993 double right hip replacement surgery.
Bill’s funeral has been tentatively scheduled for July 13, 2019 at 11 a.m. in San Marcos, Texas at Pennington Funeral Home followed by burial services at the Sabinal Cemetery in Sabinal, Texas at 4 p.m. Please contact Pennington Funeral Home to confirm.
Gone before: Erwin and Bernice Soyars; Leerie Couch (Bruce) Dr.Erwin Lloyd Soyars; Jr.(Veronica). Bill is survived by his present wife of 35 years, Tinka Soyars; Sons and their wives—Bill H. Soyars (Deanna), Thomas E. Soyars (Martha); Grandchildren—Tracy Soyars Mazloum (Bassem), Brett H. Soyars, Ashley Soyars, Jodi Soyars Hayes (Yancey); Randy Soyars (Jennifer) Kelly Soyars Harrelson (Tom); and Great Grandchildren—Bryce Mazloum, Miles Mazloum, Mia Salinas, Nya Salinas, Katelyn Hayes; Ashley Hayes, Taylor Hayes, Avery Hayes, Emery Soyars, Towne Harrelson, and Harper Harrelson.
