12/22/2025
Today, we continue our Everyday Epitaphs series with a story especially fitting for this time of year.
Billy Ashley’s epitaph reads: "Educator. World Traveler. Author... and every day was Xmas." For Bill, those words were not symbolic. They were literal.
Raised in rural, low-income North Carolina, Bill learned that joy did not come from excess, but from care and intention. When he returned home from college, he would find a freshly cut Christmas tree waiting for him, left undecorated so he could do it himself, just as his family always had. He took pride in doing so with orange slices, berries, peppermint sticks, and whatever could be lovingly arranged by hand.
Education became his pathway outward. Bill earned degrees from Appalachian State University, the University of Maryland, and the International Graduate School, and went on to a long career as an educator at T.C. Williams High School.
Over more than sixty years, Bill traveled to nearly every country on Earth. Wherever he went, Christmas went with him.
Because school holidays aligned with the season he loved most, Bill often spent Christmas abroad. When December travel took him elsewhere, he simply shifted the celebration. His Christmas-in-July gatherings became local lore, filled with decorations from across the globe and an open-door welcome.
Washington, DC was always home. A resident of the Southwest Waterfront for more than sixty years, Bill said his favorite place was always DC at Christmas. His car wore a wreath year-round, his license plate read "XMAS," and he ended conversations, no matter the month, with "Merry Christmas."
Bill chose Congressional Cemetery as his final resting place, near the front gate where life continues to pass by. Even in rest, he remained part of the everyday.
His interment took place earlier this month, the historic grounds naturally adorned with holly and greenery. To those who loved him, it felt exactly right.
Bill Ashley lived 87 years, traveling the world and teaching generations. His legacy is simple and enduring: joy is not seasonal.
For Bill, every day really was Christmas.
