Having responded to a fellow poster around here, I wanted to describe how much he resembled a hero of mine … Jerry Billings. So I looked Jerry up.. Damn, while I was in the thick of hard times, he died. But that’s OK, cuz when it counted - he was there!

The voice, if not ‘thee Dial an Atheist’ guy in Portland Oregon, and one of few threads we early atheists had for sanity in that region.. His daughter, Nancy, is a shero, in the same spirit, as is her son.. So I post the following … with fond memories of Jerry ..among many … having driven the crazy car loaded with Atheists.. from side to side of the interstate as we picked up garbage in order to maintain our “This section of highway maintained by United States Atheists” sign. Jerry, we live on ~

“Billings, Jerold L. 88 Sept. 04, 1926 Feb. 18, 2015 Jerry Billings passed away peacefully in his home after a long and full life. He was a WWII veteran, lawyer, tool collector and atheist advocate. Born in Falls City, Neb., in 1926, he moved with his family to Portland in 1942, where he attended Washington High School. He enlisted in the U.S. Army at 18 to fight in WWII.

Sent to the Pacific theater, he took part in the Battle of Okinawa, earning a Bronze Star and Purple Heart, the only member of his platoon to survive. He returned to Portland after the war, where he met and married Lorelei Brown, who has remained his loving partner for 65 years, and with whom he had three daughters. In 1962, he earned a law degree from the Northwest College of Law and went into private practice, a business he maintained for nearly 30 years.

After acting as Madeleine [Madalyn] Murray O'Hair's counsel in Oregon in the 1970s, he founded the Oregon chapter of American Atheists, later renamed the Center for Rational Thought and eventually U.S. Atheists. He was the voice of "Dial an Atheist" for more than 20 years and host of the public television program, "Bunk Busters" from 1995-2011.

His other passion was the collection and cataloging of antique tools, especially early American wood planes. He was past president of the Pacific Northwest Tool Collectors association.

Jerry is survived by his wife; daughters, Dawn, Melanie and Nancy; grandchildren, Matthew Yun, Remington and Katherine Powell; great-granddaughter, Ava Yun; and beloved caretakers, Moana Toloke and her daughter, Vee. He will be buried in a private ceremony in Willamette National Cemetery.
Published in The Oregonian from Feb. 19 to Feb. 20, 2015”