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Born and raised in Odessa. He was the youngest of 5 children born to Inez Clevenger and W.W. Anderson. He attended Odessa schools, attending the first grade at San Jacinto and when Cameron was opened in 1954 he finished elementary grade school there. He attended Bowie Junior High and Odessa High School. At Bowie he was active in the band and played drums. At OHS, he was the bass drummer and was a co-Drum Major his senior year. He loved his time in the band and was an active supporter of the band and OHS in general. He was quite vocal and hated the new uniforms, with the black pants. Since OHS colors were red and white, he felt that the tradition should not be changed for what ever reason. He was a member of the 1965 graduating class.
He attended Odessa College and worked in banking managed several clubs in the area. He last worked for Town and Country.
He broke his leg in an ice storm in December 2000 when he slipped and fell. He died from a blood clot secondary to the broken leg, several weeks later.
Never married, but had a life time companion of 25 years, Silvester Huerta of Odessa. He was preceded in death by his parents. He was survived by his sisters, LaQuita Hicks and her husband Charles of Big Valley, Texas, sister, Minnie Ruth Graves of Odessa, Gail Eppler and her husband, Jim of London, Texas and his brother W.W. (Sonny) Anderson of Odessa.
From findagrave.com.
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Billy Mac Brown
George was a friend, honestly I can say that. I first met him when I attended Cameron Elementary in the 5th grade and we were classmates in Mr. Medlin's class. George's dad worked for the Sid Richardson Carbon Black Plant near the Caprock in West Odessa. The plant is long gone. As such, George and his family lived in the Carbon Plant housing just north of the West County Road Park. George lived on Truman Street and he was the youngest of five children, he had three older sisters and an older brother. George was actually born in that camp house and his birth was attended by Dr. Marie Leopold, D.O. This was before Medical Center Hospital was opened in 1950.
After I had moved back to the West side after going to Bonham, we moved and lived on West Truman Street. George lived in the next block. We were both involved in the Bowie Band and as such we hung around. Also George had a Model A, a 1926, Ford. His father would not own anything but a Ford. Since it was a long walk to Bowie, I bummed rides from his mother. We used to have Band first period and we would have our marching rehearsals at 7:30 A.M. at the San Jacinto Park.
At OHS, George and I began to run with Leslie Davis and we were in the OHS band. George loved band and he loved Bill Dean. Let's just say I was not a favorite student of Bill Dean. George was the type of guy that could get away with anything. We had started to smoke when we were in the 8th grade and by high school, we were nicotine addicts. George didn't want anyone to know that he smoked and went to extraordinary measures to conceal it. I don't know how or why, because smokers wreak of nicotine in the clothing and when you sweat. Yet George was convinced that no one knew. I just decided I was a smoker and I really didn't care who knew, so that was a strike against me from Bill Dean.
George wanted badly to be the Drum Major at OHS and he dedicated his high school career to achieve that goal, which he did and he was a co-drum major with Susie Jones our senior year.
By the time we were seniors, it was evident to me that George and I were completely different and I went another direction. However, George was still my friend. After high school, we attended OC and we had an English class together. Another story of George being able to get away with things and I could not. We had Bessie Stanley as our English instructor at OC and she loved George and despised me. That is another story.
As an adult and living in Odessa, I never saw George, heard he was here, my father and sister had run into him. Finally I ran into him a BBQ resturant in Odessa. George had changed and I wouldn't have recognized him had I not recognized his voice.
In the years before his death, George was active on the internet on Classmates and he was very upset at the fact that the OHS band had black trousers and were wearing black shoes. She wrote seething article after article on it. I felt somewhat sad as George was still living his life through the OHS band.
In early January 2001, Odessa had a bad ice storm and George fell as he slipped on the ice. He experienced a compound fracture of his lower leg. His leg was placed in a cast and he hobbled around on crutches. He suddenly became ill on January 27, 2001 and his life partner was taking him to the Emergency Room, when his life partner told me that George took his last breath on 13th and Golder, one block from OHS, the place he loved. He perished from a blood clot in his leg which migrated to his heart. He was buried in Rosehill Cemetery in Odessa.