Willie Bivins

Mr. Willie Bivins , affectionately known as Hodie, , Lithonia, entered in eternal rest on Saturday, July 27,2024 in the comfort of his home . 

Funeral services were  held on Friday, August 2,2024 at 12 p.m. at Union Hill Baptist Church, Tennille, GA . Burial  followed in the Dixon Grove C.O.G.I.C. Cemetery. 

Born August 27, 1947, to the late Mr. Sammy Bivins, Sr., and the late Missionary Lizzie Mae (Perry) Bivins in Sandersville, Georgia, Willie was a precocious child who was full of life. The youngest of eight children, Willie attended D.D. Crawford Elementary School and T.J. Elder High School, respectively. It was at T.J. Elder that he joined the football team but when he joined the baseball team, a lifelong love began. Willie continued to play baseball throughout his life joining various intramural teams and even becoming a star player for Southern Railroad’s team while employed there after moving to Atlanta in his younger years.

If you didn’t find him throwing a ball, then you could find him on a lake, fishing rod in hand, enjoying the solitude provided by nature. Willie loved to fish and fishing garnered him his greatest catch of all, his wife, Bonita.

Willie met Bonita Rachelle McNease, affectionately known as Bonnie, when he moved to Atlanta, Georgia, in the late ‘70s. On her way to catch a bus to a class, Bonnie caught Willie’s attention, and thus began a forty-eight-year love story full of love, challenges and victories that produced memories too beautiful to forget.

Hailing from an extremely talented family, Willie could also be heard singing all around Georgia, whether it was during his time as a member of the choir while attending Lakewin Christian Center in Riverdale, Georgia, as a member of the praise and worship team at Faith To The Nations Christian Center in McDonough, Georgia, or as a singer with The Gospel Upsetters and Unlimited Gospel Singers in Tennille, Georgia. The love of music and song was never far from his heart or voice and continued to be an important part of his journey.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Mr. Sammy Bivins, Sr., and Missionary Lizzie Mae (Perry) Bivins; brothers, Jeff Bivins, Peter Bivins, Elijah Bivins, John Lewis Bivins, Mainer Bivins and sisters, Mary Warthen and Catherine “Cat” James.

Left to cherish his memory are his wife, Bonita Bivins of Atlanta, GA; children, Willie (Yvonne) Bivins of Germany, Vanessa Wilkins of New York, NY, Jesse (Carla) Stephens of Lawrenceville, GA, Crystal (Chris) Cooper of Atlanta, GA, and Shea (Raynard) Gibson of McDonough, GA; seventeen grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; a host of nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.

Wheeler’s Funeral Home was entrusted with final arrangements. 

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