On August 12, 2025, Billy Don Soden Jr. put down his paintbrush for the last time. He was surrounded by friends, family, and his children, whom he loved beyond everything else.
Few people have the opportunity to fully experience life like Billy Don did. Billy Don made a big impression everywhere he went since he was attractive and engaging. Billy Don attracted everyone and made friends everywhere he went. Everyone around him was laughing because of his keen wit and sardonic sense of humor.
Billy Don was a Tuckerman native and a 1984 graduate of Tuckerman Schools. In 1984, he relocated to Anderson, Indiana, from Tuckerman, Arkansas. He spent a number of years working on a dairy farm. In 1992, armed only with a variety of paintbrushes and his grandfather’s ladder, he began painting. His company was a huge success.
He established The Southern Belle, a catfish restaurant in Arkansas that serves pulled pork in the Memphis manner, in 2002. Every month, Billy Don would fly to Arkansas and purchase tamales from Lacky’s, which quickly became a menu staple.
After deciding to relocate his family to Arkansas in 2005, he started a small painting business from the ground up and built it into a family enterprise that will endure.
Billy Don loved to collect. In the middle of the 1990s, he started collecting milk bottles from Indiana, and he eventually accumulated more than 300 bottles from Madison County. He started collecting milk bottles from Arkansas while he was in Indiana. But at the time, he had only obtained eight because they were so uncommon. He started concentrating just on Arkansas milk bottles after relocating to Arkansas. His collection of unique milk bottles is currently the greatest in the state of Arkansas. He was highlighted in the Inside Jackson County magazine and is a member of the National Association of Milk Bottle Collectors.
In order to run Soden and Sons out of Tuckerman, he purchased Bud Bailey’s Service Station in 2006. He subsequently began collecting vintage paint signs, painting artifacts, and memorabilia from Jackson County. The Rock & Roll Highway 67 Club Museum is what it is today.
Billy Don studied under his uncle, James Logan Morgan, and became an enthusiastic historian. He gathered tidbits of Jackson County history, concentrating on Tuckerman.
Billy Don’s father, Billy Don Soden Sr., and son, Nathan Kade Soden, came before him, as did his grandparents, Orbie and Ruby Soden and James and Irene Morgan.
He left behind Kennedy Lyn Soden (Curt Farley) of Jonesboro, Arkansas, Kyler James and Katelyn Soden, and their grandchildren, as well as his children, Kendall and Whitney Soden, and Sheridan Kendall Soden of Indianapolis, Indiana.
Morgan Kambelle, Ethan Hunt, and granddaughter Konlee Kade Hunt of Powhatan, Arkansas; Karter James Soden, Kensley Grace Lawson Soden, and Keeley Kruz Soden of Tuckerman, Arkansas; Bonnie Watkins, his life partner, who diligently cared for Billy Don in his final hours and days; his grandson Logan; and his mother, Mary Jane Morgan Coats. In the late 1980s, she took him under her wing and taught him how to paint. She taught him the useful instruments of the craft, and they mostly painted in Memphis. Along with his sisters, Beki Soden Dunagan and Misty Soden; nephews, Conner Goss and Kyle Tiffee; niece, Rachel Tiffee Howard; numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins; and a lifelong network of friends, she taught him the importance of doing a job well.
Little Bill was greatly influenced by Pete Jiles. Pete met Little Bill at the age of two months and was like a sibling to Billy Don Sr. Pete took advantage of every chance to support and mentor him as he grew up. Little Bill became the strong-willed man he is today thanks to his unwavering presence in his life.
Ash, his cherished Border Collie, who accompanied him everywhere he went in the vehicle, is also left behind.
His friends, family, and community are invited to a visitation on Monday, August 18, 2025, from 5:00 to 7:00. The Jackson’s Newport Funeral Home Chapel will host funeral services on Tuesday, August 19, at 2:00 p.m. Interment will take place at Gracelawn Cemetery.
Jeff McGinnis, Benny Malone, Jake Nunemaker, Charlie Bell, Kyle Tiffee, and James Weaver are honored to be pallbearers.
Pete Jiles, Jimmy Darling, Ricky Doyle, William (Bill) Soden, Bob Jones, Kenneth Grady, Jr., and Tuckerman Class of 1984 members are honorary pallbearers.
We will all be reflecting on how much he loved our family when we lay him to rest. He left behind a huge hole and his presence was enormous.
Psalm 34:18
Those who are crushed in spirit are saved by the Lord, who is near to the brokenhearted.
