Mrs. Wanetta Joyce Bullis' Obituary
Wanetta Joyce Watson Bullis age 89, born August 12, 1923, passed away on December 19, 2012. She is preceded in death by her mother, Wilhelmina (Billie) V. Watson; her husband, Jerell (Jack) Wayne Bullis, Sr., her brother John (Jack) Watson; her first daughter-in-law Janie Clark Bullis, and her nephew Jack Watson. Joyce was born in Birmingham, Alabama, but lived most of her life in Pensacola, Florida. Her mother owned the Palafox Hotel, later owned The Azalea Motel in Gulf Breeze, and then ran and owned a boarding house on 9th and Blount in Pensacola. It is there she met and soon married USN Lt. Jack Bullis. In the first year of their married life, they were stationed in over 10 cities. While Jack was off fighting the war, their two sons, Jerell (Jerry) W. Bullis, Jr.; and Michael Alan Bullis; spent their lives growing up in Pensacola. In 1965, the family moved to Galveston, Texas. Both boys attended Sam Houston State University. Michael soon made a name for himself in hotel management, while Jerry worked on papers in Pensacola and then in Beaumont, Texas. He later earned his degree in English and taught high school for many years. Now he is a retired Philosophy teacher at the junior college in Houston. Both Jack and Joyce worked and retired from American National Insurance Co. Joyce is survived by her two children, Jerry and his wife Lorraine and Michael and his wife Ann; four grandchildren: Shannon Bullis Ray of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio; Katrina Bullis Simmons of Lindale, Texas; Heather Bullis of Houston, and Michael David Bullis USN of Millington, Tennessee. She is also survived by four great-grandchildren: Tanner, Devin, and Stevie Ray of Ohio, Sadie Bullis Simmons of Lindale, and Hunter Michael Bullis of Tennessee. She missed seeing two more great-grandchildren: Raif Simmons and Wyatt Jack Bullis to be born respectively in January and May. She is also survived by her nieces Kathy Watson and Carol Watson Kelly and her nephew Tommy Watson.
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