The Billard family homesteaded Kansas before it became a state. They settled in what is now Topeka and became prominent community members. Great Grandfather J.B. was Mayor and even ran for Governor. He had three sons: Reamer, my Grandfather, who moved to Texas, Robert, who lived in the family home, and Louis Philip, who was an early aviator and died in a plane crash in France during World War I.

When my Grandfather and his Brother Robert had died, some family history items were loaned to Tope (...)