Bill Lacy

1. UPDATE: Troup Mayor passes away

Troup Mayor Bill Lacy, 46, passed away on Thursday, May 7, 2015 at 10:10 p.m. Lacy had been in the intensive care unit at East Texas Medical Center since Wednesday night when he suffered a heart attack, according to a person close to the family.

Lacy is survived by his wife Aida, two daughters, Katherine and Tiffany, and his parents Jerry and Dorothy Lacy.

“Bill was a great volunteer for the community. He loved Troup and he wanted to do things for Troup,” City Administrator Gene Cottle said. “He always enjoyed it; he was not only the mayor, but he served on the school board, was the president of the rotary club at one point. He was just about service.”

Lacy spent more than a decade on the board of trustees for Troup Independent School District. He also worked as a branch manager for Kilgore National Bank.

Lacy lived across the street from Cottle, in his grandparents’ former home. He said he had known Lacy since he was a young man.

“It’s gonna be a tragic, emotional loss for the community,” Cottle said.

Cottle, a former mayor of Troup, said that the community was very close, pointing out that in addition to himself and Lacy, two other former mayors lived within two blocks of each other.

“He was a great community-minded leader, good father, good family man, dedicated to his community and his family and his church,” Former Mayor John Whitsell said.

During the Day of Prayer breakfast in Troup on Thursday, members of the community came out to show support for the Lacy family. Hundreds turned to social media to show support after learning Lacy had been hospitalized.

“My dad, who had been mayor of Troup, he and I were having lunch last week, and I told him Bill Lacy had done the best job of promoting Troup in a non self-serving way,” Troup City Councilman Joe Carlyle said. “Nothing that Bill Lacy ever did for the city of Troup or back in the day when he was a school board member, was related to Bill Lacy, it was always related to the school district or Troup.”

A benefit account to support the Lacys has been established at the Kilgore National Bank. 

Funeral services are pending. When service details are available, they will be immediately posted to the city of Troup on Facebook and on the www.trouptexas.org.

For additional information, call Troup City Hall at 903-842-3128.

Twitter: @TMT_Cory