William “Bill” Maxwell Soyars passed away on July 2, 2019 at the age of 93 years. He was born April 15, 1926 to Erwin and Bernice Soyars. Bill’s grandfather, Dr. C.E. Evans, was the President of SWT for 32 years of what is now Texas State University.
The family moved to Sabinal where Bill excelled in football. After graduation from high school, Bill hitchhiked to College Station to enroll in Texas A & M. He was able to play varsity football as a walk-on. In 1944 this Aggie team was the only team to ever play in the Orange Bowl. The team was called the “Kiddie Korps” because many of the upper classman athletes had already been drafted into the military for World War II. Bill was drafted into the Air Force and served in Italy the last six months of the war. When the war ended Bill went back to A & M and finished his degree in Animal Husbandry.
Bill had married and had two young sons and moved his family back to Sabinal and went into ranching. In 1956 there was a severe drought and cattle prices hit rock bottom. Bill finished his flight training and got on as a flight instructor at the Camp Gary Army School in San Marcos and moved his family there.
