Billy and the Turkey Shoot
A Thanksgiving Story
By Danny Tillman

Forward
By Larry Mixson

In September of 2005 Dad (Morris Mixson) received the following letter from Danny Tillman

Betty holding Janice,
Barbara holding Brenda, 1952

The Mixson, Feaster and Tillman families are old families from the Micanopy and Flemington area in Florida going back to the 1800’s and are related through marriage, most notably, Mary Telula Mixson marrying Jacob Wesley Feaster#836. (Danny is my cousin, my Grandfather’s oldest sister’s grandson.) I would imagine that Dad saw Danny at the Feaster-Mixson family reunion that was held that year and most every year since 1937. At the reunion, Danny probably talked to Dad about family, including Dad’s mother Rosalie#842w (my grandmother) and Betty and Billy who also would have been at the reunion.  Dad and Billie, born the same year, were lifelong friends with both getting married in 1950, Dad to my mother Barbara, and Billy to Betty, then the four of them living together the first year of marriage. Both couples having their first children, Billy and Betty having Janice, and Morris and Barbara having Brenda. In the following few years both families would have additional children, Billy and Betty having Karen and Timmy, and Morris and Barbara having Larry (me) and then David. We all then grew up together, with both families often visiting each other, spending birthdays and holidays together and have many fond memories and stories about those times. 

In all those years I had never heard the Turkey Shoot story although there were others like Billy and the frog in his coffee story. It was after Dad died and I was going through a box of cards and letters that I found the envelope with the letter from Danny that I learned of the Turkey Shoot story.

Danny originally wrote the story in 2004 which he distributed to family though a series of emails sent over several days before Thanksgiving of 2004. Each email contained a “page” consisting of a few sentences or paragraphs of the story as it developed. Thanksgiving came and went with the original version of the story ended with, “One Thanksgiving turkey wasn't worth getting shot over!  Let's come back to our senses, O.K.!?” 

In 2005 Danny reformatted and did minor updates to the story which he redistributed in both email and print form which is what I found in the letter from Danny to Dad.

I thought that was the end of the story, but as it turned out in September of 2005 Danny added pages 16-47 and changed the title to, “Billy and the Great Turkey Shoot”. Danny explained the title change:

The addition of Great to the title is courtesy of Cousin Cheryl, who used that adjective when referring to the first 14 pages of this Thanksgiving Story.

When I found the letter of the original version of the story, which I first published on Mixsonian.com, I was not aware that there was more, then in August of 2025 Danny sent me the updated story with pages 16-47 from 2005. With this version of the story ending with the introduction of my parents to the story.

Aunt Mary wrote a letter to their friends the Hawkins, who lived in Jacksonville , telling them to come, and Betty wrote a letter to Morris and Barbara, to come up too.

Then after Thanksgiving in October of 2005 Danny sent out pages 49-55 of the story ending with, “Albey Yark and Company were arriving!, …To Be Continued… m.w” and that is where the story ended until 2008 when Danny added additional pages, again sending them out one at a time over several months. And then the story again paused until 2025 when Danny finished the final pages of the story as it is now presented here.

Updated: 11-26-2025

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