After more than 40 years of faithful service in the ministry, Billy D. "Bill" Hallsted, age 74, was called home on May 11, 2015. He is reunited in heaven with his parents, Wayne and Flora, and his brother Jimmy, all of Chadron, Nebraska where he was born.

Bill began life as a cowboy and horseman. He moved on to work in mining, carpentry, construction, law enforcement, and finally restaurant management. He entered the full-time ministry after him and his wife's fourth child was born and served 11 different churches in the 42 years before retiring. In that time he was a prolific writer, with over two hundred articles published in seventy seven Christian and secular magazines. He has written three published Christian fiction novels, one non-fiction novel on the joys and trials of raising a son with disabilities, and has had thirty-nine Western novels published under the pen name 'Billy Hall'.

Bill is survived by his wife of 55 years, Arlene; two sons, Don (Laurie) Hallsted of Fort Dodge, IA; Andrew Hallsted of Hot Springs; three daughters, Nancy (Jim) French of Brooklyn, NY; Connie (Todd) Phelps of Hot Springs; Bonnie (Bob) Wanzer of Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada; ten grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.

Memorial services will be held 11:00 a.m. Thursday, May 14, at the Southern Hills Evangelical Free Church in Hot Springs with Pastor Mark Crossman officiating. Interment will be held at 3:00 p.m. the same day, at the Greenwood Cemetery in Chadron, NE.