Former longtime Dallas-area resident Billy Dean Bullard, 69, passed away Oct. 7, 2024, at the Northeastern Health System in Tahlequah, Okla.
Bullard, AKA “Billie Jean,” was born June 30, 1955, in Ada, Okla. He moved to Dallas after graduating high school and studying nursing care at East Central University in Ada and Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant. For a time, he worked as a health care attendant in Dallas.
Bullard worked as a costume designer for the Garland Civic Theater Center, and he also designed gowns for many Dallas drag performers. “Billie Jean” was the name on the label of the dresses he designed, and he also went by that name when he dressed in drag on Halloween and other special occasions.
Bullard and his longtime partner, Claude Orville “Buddy” Sanders who died Jan. 17, 2002, from complications from AIDS, were well known in the Fitzhugh Avenue gay bars of the time and other nightclubs around town.
Both Bullard and Sanders were diagnosed with HIV infections in the late 1980s and fought the disease for decades. Bullard died of interstitial lung disease and pulmonary fibrosis, which was diagnosed in April.
Bullard moved from the home he had shared in Garland with Sanders in 2006 to return to Oklahoma to help take care of his elderly parents. His parents, who were deeply religious, had disowned him when he came out as gay in his youth, but they relented in their later years.
After his father’s death, Bullard and his mother moved to Vinita, where they operated a sewing and alterations business until her death. He continued the business alone until this year when his declining health forced him to retire.
Graveside service were held Oct. 13 at Spavinaw-Strang Cemetery.