{"id":40445,"date":"2026-06-15T15:45:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T20:45:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=40445"},"modified":"2026-06-15T18:29:36","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T23:29:36","slug":"william-dean-billy-vansant-72-of-effingham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/40445-william-dean-billy-vansant-72-of-effingham\/","title":{"rendered":"William Dean &#8220;Billy&#8221; VanSant (72) of Effingham"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">William Dean \u201cBilly\u201d VanSant, 72, of Effingham, IL, passed away on Friday, June 12, 2026 at Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, IL.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">There will be no public services held at this time. Private family graveside services at VanSant Cemetery in Effingham will be held at a later date.\u00a0 Johnson Funeral Home in Effingham is assisting the family.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In lieu of flowers and gifts, memorials may be made directly to your local humane society.\u00a0 Online condolences may be shared at <a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.johnsonandsonsfh.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.johnsonandsonsfh.com<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">William was born on November 12, 1953 in Effingham, IL, the son of Max Jr. and Ellnora (Larimer) VanSant.\u00a0 Billy owned and operated VanSant Equipment. He enjoyed fishing, mushroom hunting, cutting wood, and riding his 4-wheeler. Above all, Billy had a kind heart.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Billy is survived by his brother, Dennis (Kim) VanSant of Marshall; sisters, Shirley (Donald) Cotton of Neoga, Virginia \u201cJenny\u201d (Paul) Spour of Sigel, Tammy (Mike) Delaney of Altamont, Loretta (Bob \u201cMickey\u201d) Nelson of Marshall, and Rita (Rich) Heuermann of Mattoon; many nieces and nephews; and \u201cOops\u201d his beloved dog.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">He was preceded in death by his parents; and brother, Max Eugene \u201cGene\u201d VanSant.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>William died on Friday, June 12.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":40446,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-obits"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>William Dean &quot;Billy&quot; 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