MADISON— A “Celebration of Life” service for Billy Joe “BJ” Hall, 79, who died Monday, Dec. 23, 2019, at Hospice Ministries in Ridgeland, will be noon today at First Baptist Church Madison. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. until service time today at the church.

A reception will follow the services, also at the church.

Billy Joe was born in Bude and raised in Natchez.

He became a million-dollar salesman with Equitable Life Insurance, Lords of London and Colonial Life Insurance, selling more than 48 million dollars and becoming a permanent member of the Roundtable. He went into real estate and developing property.

He moved from Natchez to Jackson in 1980. He started the Mississippi Independent Auto Dealer Association, along with Mississippi Salvage Dealers Association “When Moby Dick was a minnow.” He started Hall & Associates Insurance Agency, now Auto Services Group, LLC, and Just Us Lot Supply. He was a lobbyist, president of the Executive Directors for the International Salvage Association for two years. He left MIADA in 1992, and started his own association, Magnolia Automobile Consultants “BIG MAC, Food for Thought.”  BJ worked hard for 37 years for the used car dealer; to earn the respect of the general population, the State Tax Commission, Attorney General’s Office, Banking Commission, Highway Patrol and FBI.

BJ loved life, hunting, fishing, grilling, LSU, Saints and was a great storyteller and speaker. He was a member of First Madison Baptist Church and Mutonah Springs Hunting Club.

He leaves behind his wife, Carole Maxwell Hall; two daughters, Shannon                                       Allen and husband, Tracy, of Dauphin Island, and Kim Davis of Florence; two stepsons, Jay Ainsworth and wife, Laura, of Madison and Jeb Ainsworth and wife, Jennifer, of Orlando, Florida; 10 grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; one brother, Bobby Hall; one aunt, Shirley Rushing of Natchez; and cousins.

Special thanks to the nurses on the 4th floor at St. Dominic Hospital for their loving care of BJ. Special thanks to family and friends

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the First Baptist Madison Building Fund, 2100 Main Street, Madison, MS 39110.