{"id":50467,"date":"2026-10-30T05:46:33","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T10:46:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=50467"},"modified":"2026-10-30T05:46:33","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T10:46:33","slug":"billy-joe-browning-75-of-mattoon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/50467-billy-joe-browning-75-of-mattoon\/","title":{"rendered":"Billy Joe Browning (75) of Mattoon"},"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><div>Billy Joe Browning of rural Mattoon, Illinois passed away peacefully Tuesday, October 27, 2026 at Mattoon Health Care surrounded by his loving family.<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Memorial visitation will be held Thursday, November 5, 2026 from 6-8pm at the Swengel- O\u2019Dell Funeral Home in Neoga, Illinois. A Life Celebration Service will be held Friday, November 6, 2026 at 11am at the funeral home. Burial will follow at the Neoga Memorial Cemetery.<\/div>\n<div>Online condolences may be made at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.swengel-odell.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=http:\/\/www.swengel-odell.com&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1793390450384000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0XNAlaeH8rnt0BZ6TIvrML\">www.swengel-odell.com<\/a><\/div>\n<div id=\"m_2351978580088300585Signature\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>He was born September 12, 1951 in Flora, Illinois the son of Vernon and Doris (Dobbs) Browning. He married Shirley Krietemeyer on October 22, 1971 in Mattoon, Illinois. He was a hardworking man. He worked for Illinois Central Railroad, Inland Supply Company, and Sturdi-Built Corporation. \u00a0Billy enjoyed restoring cars, camping, trap shooting, hunting, and horseback riding. Also, he enjoyed watching his granddaughters when they were playing sports, participating in pageants and in parades. \u00a0Billy was a Master Mason and a volunteer firefighter for the Wabash Fire Protection District.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Billy is survived by his wife of 55 years Shirley; daughters, Angela &#8220;Angie&#8221; Haarman and Michelle (Kyle) Gill; grandchildren, Peyton Gill, Chloe Haarman, Avery Gill, and Emma Jo Haarman; brother, Bobby (Brenda) Browning; sisters-in-law, Linda (Jim) Levingston and Sandy McDowell; several nieces and nephews.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Billy was preceded in death by his parents; grandson, Emmit Haarman; parents in law, Louis and Mary Jane Krietemeyer; \u00a0brother-in-law, Don Krietemeyer and several aunts and uncles.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>In lieu of flowers donations are suggested to the Alzheimer\u2019s Association at ALZ.org.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"m_2351978580088300585Signature\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Billy Joe Browning of rural Mattoon, Illinois passed away peacefully Tuesday, October 27, 2026 at Mattoon Health Care surrounded by his loving family. Memorial visitation will be held Thursday, November [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":50468,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50467","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 v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Billy Joe Browning (75) of Mattoon - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/50467-billy-joe-browning-75-of-mattoon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Billy Joe Browning (75) of Mattoon - 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