Bill Reagan plastered his heart along America’s highways. He didn’t realize everyone would notice
Julia Reagan died on June 12, 2024. Her husband, Bill Reagan, the owner of the billboard company, Reagan Outdoor Advertising, memorialized his wife with more than 300 billboard tributes.
In response, posts and comments about Julia Reagan flooded social media and made the lady who popped up on billboards along America’s highway system a cultural phenomenon.
“We were soulmates,” Bill Reagan said. “It’s really helped me with my grieving, seeing her on our billboards.”
This Deseret News video features the story of the Julia Reagan billboards — which are going to begin coming down soon. Starting on June 15, 25% of the 300 billboards will come down. Then each week, 25% more will come down until they are all gone.
“She would have liked the boards, because we would do that for our birthdays and things like that,” Bill Reagan noted. Still, he added, that she would not have loved the length and attention they billboards have been given. “She’d have to be dead to tolerate this because she was so private,” but “that’s my choice. This is part of my way of grieving her.”
By Rachel Aston, Emma Pitts,•
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And their love story deserves more than a billboard; it needs a major motion picture
