Our Arklahoma Heritage: Miniature of Waldron-born sculptor's work wound up in Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

Billy Ray Pettit, known as B.R. Pettit or "Catfish," was born on October 15, 1947, in Waldron.

His parents were Benjamin "Ben" Lawrence Pettit, a building contractor, and Jimmie Lorene Jameson Pettit. The family lived in Parks Township along Highway 28 before moving to Williams, Arizona, in 1953 when Pettit was six years old.

In Arizona, Pettit developed an interest in the American West and mountain men. He studied art at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, earning a master's degree. He briefly taught art there in the late 1970s and used the university's foundries for his bronze casting.

Pettit specialized in realistic bronze sculptures of Western mountain men, pioneer life, Rocky Mountain Rendezvous scenes, and some American Indian themes. He created about 17 bronzes in his career.His best-known work is the eight-foot bronze statue of William Sherley "Old Bill" Williams, a 19th-century trapper and scout after whom the town of Williams is named.

Pettit completed it in 1979–1980 as his master's thesis project. He donated his labor, while the city and local groups funded materials. The statue was unveiled on April 26, 1980, in Bill Williams Monument Park along Route 66 by U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater

. It launched the annual Rendezvous Days festival.I n January 1981, the Bill Williams Mountain Men group presented a 16-inch maquette of the statue to President Ronald Reagan. Reagan displayed it in the Oval Office during his presidency, later at his California ranch.

It is now in the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library collection.

Pettit was active in the community as a founding member of the Cataract Creek Gang, performing Old West gunfight reenactments for tourists. He also worked as a cowboy character for the Grand Canyon Railway and owned S&P Tax Service.

He died on October 26, 2006, at age 59 in Williams from Addison's disease. Services were held at the base of the "Old Bill" statue

. He was survived by his wife Laurha, several children and stepchildren, a brother, a sister, and 13 grandchildren.

Pettit's early years in Scott County connect him to Arkansas heritage, while his sculptures preserve Western history and gained national recognition.