William Edwin Millet, accomplished and colorful filmmaker, producer, musician, storyteller, historian and promoter passed from this life to his eternal home on Wednesday, November 11, at 12:13 pm from complications stemming from a gastrointestinal disorder and compromised health conditions as a 3 time cancer survivor.
Bill was born on July 4th, 1955 at Baylor Hospital in Dallas, Texas and was residing in his lakeside home in Rowlett, Texas at the time of his death. He is a father of two, a brother to five, and a beloved family member and friend to hundreds of others.
In 1960, Bill moved to San Jose, Costa Rica at the age of 5 with his missionary parents. A year later he moved to Huehuetenango, Guatemala where he attended Huehue Academy, a boarding school for missionary kids along with brothers Jeff and Greg for 4 years. It was there that his musical seeds were planted through trumpet lessons, bongo drums and the influence of The Beatles music - sung a capella by fellow missionary kids who had heard it while on furlough in Canada as no recordings or radios were available at Huehue.
Later, Bill moved to Puebla, Mexico where he attended Puebla Christian School while his parents worked at Central American Mission’s Ediciones Las Americas printing and publishing house. It was during these years that he learned the Spanish language he was fluent in by roaming the streets with his friends, absorbing the Latin culture and heritage that would greatly influence his later life’s work. It was also during that time that he cajoled his parents into buying him a classical guitar from a little shop in an artisan’s market in Mexico City - an event that would define his future.
In 1969 he moved to Siloam Springs, Arkansas to attend the 9th Grade and lived with his grandparents Ed and Grace Ettinger while his parents finished their last year as missionaries in Puebla. There he befriended the son of the town’s music store owner, gaining himself access to a wealth of popular music and musical instruments, especially electric guitars. It was at this time that he made the first crude musical recordings that would mark the beginning of a lifetime of refined music and film work to follow.
In 1970, he returned to Dallas, Texas to attend Hillcrest High School where he formed the first of many bands that he would eventually become a member of. At first, it was all rock and roll and electric guitars. During his senior year in high school his interests shifted to Bluegrass and Country. He took up the banjo and was accepted into DISD’s Skyline Music Program for students with exceptional musical talent. After graduating he studied music at Richland College and played in local bands, eventually joining the Silver Moon Bluegrass Band formed by his cousin Martin Massinger that played local venues and festivals.
During this period Bill really excelled at the banjo, even winning titles at some festivals and contests. It was at one of these festivals around 1976 when he was offered a job as the banjo player with The Bluegrass Alliance, a leading band from Louisville, Kentucky in the heart of Bluegrass music country. While with that band, Bill hired a young guitar playing vocalist named Vince Gill, who would later rise to stardom.
In the early 1980’s, Bill moved to Denver, Colorado to join the up and coming band Monroe Doctrine and began touring and recording around the U.S. In the mid 80’s, after tiring of the rigors of constant touring, Bill quit the band and returned to Dallas to focus on a healthier lifestyle and reimagine his career path. Musical forays into R&B, pop and Christian music followed along with him trying his hand at studio work producing albums for artists such as Mark O’Connor, Bonnie Raitt and others. He also toured the Middle East with the Mark O’Connor band on a U.S. State Department Cultural Exchange Tour where they played a command performance for King Hussein of Jordan.
In the late 1980’s and early 90’s, Bill’s career interests shifted from performance to production and promotion. During that time period he directed, produced and promoted a number of music festivals and concerts for acts such as Blood, Sweat and Tears, Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Ringo Starr, Ray Charles, George Strait, Linda Ronstadt, Lee Greenwood, Benny Goodman and many others. In the late 90’s he orchestrated and produced a duets album for country music icon Hank Thompson featuring Vince Gill, Junior Brown, Marty Stuart, Brooks & Dunn, George Jones, Lyle Lovett, Kitty Wells, Tanya Tucker and others.
He also produced a number of special events where his Latin roots came to bear such as a Latin Music Festival featuring Tito Puente and Celia Cruz, Tejano Music Festivals featuring Selena, Los Bukis, Vicente Fernandez, Linda Ronstadt, and even a Texas Stadium concert by Gloria Estefan’s Miami Sound Machine. As the new millennium approached, Bill produced a praise album and video titled The Greatest Story Ever Sung featuring Christian artists Kathy Lee Gifford, Micheal W. Smith, Michael Crawford, and others.
As a child Bill had a great interest in cars and auto racing. In his teen years he had refurbished an old Triumph TR3 his uncle Dan gave him, and in the early 2000’s he parlayed that interest into an auto racing marketing project for legendary race car driver and auto designer Carroll Shelby’s line of automotive products which included sponsorship of an Indy Car Racing Team.
As the decade progressed, Bill’s interests evolved further, adding film making to his resume of talents and abilities. He married his wife Maria while living in Dallas, and soon after moved to San Antonio where he became involved with historians such as Dr. Felix Almaraz, and officials from organizations such as the Daughters of the Texas Republic, musician and Alamo historian Phil Collins, the Center for Big Bend Studies at Sul Ross University, the City of Ágreda, Spain, the state of Puebla, Centro INAH Coahuila, Gerrero, Mexico, Archivo General de Mexico, Fundación Carlos Slim and Los Bexareños Genealogical & Historical Society.
Bill’s other documentary film projects included Texas Music Extravaganza, featuring Raul Malo, the San Antonio sounds of Flaco Jimenez, Augie Meyers, The Vato Valley Boys, Dan Crary, Adam Aguilar and others. This program was a PBS hit and raised almost $50k for the station.
In 2018, Bill produced 10 weeks of programming for the City of San Antonio Tricentennial that aired on Univision Television Network and earned him two Texas Emmy Award nominations for Excellence and Best Director. The film Texas Before the Alamo, which was Bill’s passion for eight years, is the story of the Spanish who established Texas in the centuries that preceded the Battle of the Alamo. His dream was for these films to be shown and taught in Texas schools.
He was also involved in cooperative resolutions signed between historians in Mexico, Spain and Texas seeking to improve relations between the nations that were recognized in a ceremony of the Texas State Senate.
El Camino, was a film about the Texas Mexico Olive Trail and promoted the olive oil industry of Texas. His last projects in the making were The Star Film Ranch a film about the ranch where classic cowboy western movies were first made and John Wayne, His Life and Legend, the tale of the making of the first Alamo movie. Bill was also organizing a series of concerts and videos featuring the Baroque music of Houston Symphony Orchestra First Chair Louis-Marie Fardet and guitarist Manuel Mejía Armijo and the upcoming Nouvelle Antigua.
Bill was a very busy man who leaves a legacy of creativity and friendship behind. He brought numerous people together in his lifetime to work on a wide range of projects dedicated to music, the arts, and history. His passion was to tell the full story of Texas and Mexico history, and foster an atmosphere of friendship and cooperation based on our shared history, culture, arts, and music.
Most of all Bill loved his family - especially his children Billy and Eden who were the light of his life. He loved his brothers and their families. There was nothing he loved better than gathering a large group of family and friends together for a celebratory fiesta or a lively jam session. He never met a stranger and would talk the ear off anyone who would listen.
He was a health nut - always concerned with his diet and exercise. A nature lover and adventurer who was always up for taking the road less traveled. A professional with boundless energy and a tireless enthusiasm for his projects. This is Bill’s legacy. What made him tick and drove him to work at the frenzied pace he often did. He was gifted, passionate, and talented. And he will be missed greatly by a great many people with whom he worked, played and loved.
Bill is preceded in passing by his mother Joyce Millet and his younger brother Greg Millet. He is survived by his wife Maria Cordoneda-Millet; his son Billy and wife Atisha Millet, his daughter Eden and husband Ryan O’Malley and their mother Christie Neal; his father William E. Millet, Sr. and step-mother Loetta Millet; his four brothers Jeff, Brian, Chris and Jon Millet; and somewhere around a hundred or so relatives he loved dearly from the Millet and Ettinger branches of his family tree.
And finally, Bill had faith in God that assured him that he would be reunited with his loved ones who had gone before him. Heaven’s chorus has a brand new band member. And both his, and his family’s faith in God assures us that we will hear him play again someday.
Until then, rest in peace, ‘mano Memo.
A Memorial Service will be held at 10:00 a.m., Saturday, November 21, 2020 at Turrentine-Jackson-Morrow Funeral Home Chapel, 2525 Central Expressway North, Allen, Texas 75013.
The Chapel Service is limited to 100 guests, but will be streamed LIVE for those not able to attend, or for overflow guests to watch in their cars then visit family after the service.
To connect, go to: CelebrationOfLife.TV
A Committal Inurnment Service will be held at 3:00 p.m., Saturday, November 21, 2020 at Preston Bend Cemetery at Glen Eden on Lake Texoma, 29141 Preston Been Road, Pottsboro, TX 75076.
All are invited to caravan to this service and join us for Dinner afterwards at Napoli's Restaurant, 13015 N, TX-289, Pottsboro, TX 75076.
(903) 786-2383
Celebrationoflife.tv livestream for service https://celebrationoflife.tv/blog/william-bill-edwin-millet