Obituary - Sedalia Democrat, 11 August 1937 W. R. Dillard William Reece Dillard, aged 77 years, died at this home at 3300 South Ingram Avenue Tuesday night at 8 o'clock from an acute dilation of the heart. Although Mr. Dillard had been ill for the past several years, his condition had not become serious until last Sunday. Mr. Dillard was the son of the late William and Nancy Hughes Dillard. He was born in Cooper County October 31, 1859, and, at an early age, he moved to Pettis County where he has lived ever since. The first part of his life was spent on a farm near Sedalia, but for the past 35 or 40 years, Mr. Dillard had been a resident of Sedalia. Serving as deputy sheriff under his brother, J. G. Dillard, I. N. Sprecher, and George H. Rector, Mr. Dillard was a leader in civic as well as church affairs in Sedalia. He was known to his friends as "Bud." The Dillard family was among the earliest settlers in Pettis County. Mr. Dillard has been retired from business for the past several years because of his health. He was a member of the Southern Methodist church. Survivors include his widow, Mrs. Grace Overstreet Dillard; three children, Joseph C., William Reece, and Grace Dillard; one brother, J. G. Dillard, Jefferson City; and the following nephews and nieces: Mrs. F. B. Long, Mrs. Elizabeth Wilkerson, Miss Mary O'Bannon, and Allen O'Bannon, all of Sedalia, and Mrs. W. B. Combs, St. Paul, Minn. His only sister, Mrs. Elizabeth O'Bannon, died in 1928. Funeral services will be held at the M. E. Church, South, at 2 o'clock Thursday afternoon, with the pastor, Rev. J. C. English, to officiate, assisted by Rev. E. W. Bartley, of Kansas City, formerly of Sedalia. The following friends will serve as pallbearers: Henry Cartwright, William Gentry, J. C. Connor, J. J. Comer, all of Sedalia; L. S. Adams, Knob Noster, and Hugh Price of LaMonte. The body is at Gillespie's Funeral Home to remain until the funeral hour. The casket will not be opened at the church. Interment will be in Crown Hill cemetery.