William Bryan ‘Bill’ Donahoo

​First Generation
 
1.  William Bryan (Bill) Donahoo was born on 4 Dec 1932 in Gouldbusk, Coleman County, Texas, son of Wilmer Lewis Donahoo and Minnie Elizabeth Gober.
 
Sheriff of Brown Co
 
Bill DONAHOO was elected on November 6, 1984, re-elected November 8, 1988, and is currently serving as sheriff (when this was published). Sheriff Donahoo was born December 4, 1932, and has been a lawman for thirty years. He and his wife, Winona, live near Brownwood. Their children are Nova, Trish, and Bill. Contributed by Patsy Johnson in Brownwood at ikesis2@juno.com
 
William married Oscar Winona Hallmark, daughter of Oscar Merritt ‘Boots’ Hallmark and Cleo Patra Walters.
They had the following children:
 2F          i.             Nona Rae Donahoo
 3F          ii.            Patricia Beth “Trish” Donahoo
 4M        iii.           William Hallmark Donahoo
Bill is a sixth generation Texan. His Donahoo ancestors were in Texas by 1834 and received land grants. His Freeman ancestors were in Texas by 1846 in Hill County. He started his law enforcement career in the Marine Corps in the Military Police. He began his civilian law enforcement career at Brownwood Police Department under Chief Jack Pack in 1955 as a patrol officer. He worked there almost five years. In approximately 1960 he went to Midland Police Department as a patrol officer. He was promoted to Patrol Sgt, and worked for them for approximately two and one half years. He returned to Brown County and went to work for Sheriff Joe Townsend as a deputy. In 1964, he was elected Chief of Police for Brownwood Police Department, and was Chief for nine years. He was recruited to work for West Central Texas Council of Government in Abilene for about eight months. He was appointed Brown County Juvenile Probations officer for two years. He then made an unsuccessful bid for Police Chief. He went into the retail sales and management of the automobile industry for three years. In the late 1970’s he returned to law enforcement under Sheriff Danny Neal, as his Chief Deputy. After Stovall was elected Sheriff, he was appointed Chief Deputy under Sheriff Stovall. Sheriff Stovall only served one term (four years). Bill successfully ran for Sheriff against three opponents and won without a runoff. He was sheriff for twelve consecutive years. He served from January 1, 1985 until December 31, 1996.
He retired more or less to take care of health problems. He had to have a pacemaker, stints and then open heart surgery. After he had his ticker fixed he has returned to work, part time, for Davis Morris Funeral Home as a General Assistant, where he works as of this day.
He stated that he has enjoyed his law enforcement career. He said it is not the best profession to get into as far as money is concerned, even though the pay is extremely better than when he was in law enforcement.
But all in all, it is a ‘noble’ profession to enable you to help our fellow man, our community, and contribute to the future of our citizens by guiding them in the right direction. Someone has to stand up for ‘the little guy’, for the timid, and for the people who are in the right, to protect and prevent crime.
He stated that he felt he had made his contribution a good one.