https://funeral-notices.co.uk/notice/pine/5114537

Passed away suddenly, aged 23. You had the sweetest temper, the kindest heart. You were the least judgmental person. If someone needed help you always had time and attention for them. You were a brilliant mimic: Everyone from a dopey, adorable Butters to a German psychoanalyst probing the inner recesses of a hapless patient’s mind. You were brilliant but modest. You got into Mensa but then didn’t tell us the results. I had to sneak into your room and look in the envelope. You were also clumsy. Sometimes you tripped on air. Once you sat in a bowl of strawberries and cream. And then you did it again! We called you Creamy Bum. Sometimes you loved being on stage, playing everyone from John Lennon to the dancing guy in Footloose. You looked great in the fedora as Bugsy Malone. They called you JuJu because you could be flamboyant. But you were also the biggest introvert. You spent 2 years never leaving the house. I could hear the thunder of your gaming chair rolling across the ceiling above. You had the biggest box of gaming snacks. I was envious. You were both adventurous and a homebody. You went to China to feed pandas, and learn Mandarin. You wandered around old Chengdu but still messaged me to ask how to use the washing machine and for help locating Starbucks. As a child you fell asleep on the sofa a lot. You did the same as an adult. When you did something you usually overdid it, whether it was gaming or friendship. Sleepwalking was your quirk. You did weird things in your sleep, like hunting around for a single sock, putting it on and lying down again. And wandering round imaginary mazes. You liked work and your colleagues at Cineworld. You liked specialty popcorn and hot dogs and you lived for films. At Christmas you dressed yourself in glowing fairy lights. You were a walking illumination. But you had to plug them in, so you couldn’t wander further than your length of flex. You were a walking fire hazard. Often you were reckless. The least experienced ice-skater out of all of us, you’d race around the rink like you were training for competition. Your driving was haphazard. You took down a fence when you thought you were in reverse gear but was really in first. And then you hit it again. But you were careful with people’s feelings and always trod lightly around them. You had compassion for them, knowing that you too were fragile inside. Sadly the battleground of life was too much and you took your own life on Mother’s Day, aged 23, leaving behind Karen – I was the proudest mum; and your siblings Greta, Jonty and Gina who loved you. Tia was your adored niece. You were a boy who loved babysitting. You often told us you didn’t wanna grow old. And now you’re forever young.

So beautiful thanks for sharing this!

Story written from the viewpoint of the children:
Betty loved the Lord, His dear Son, the Brethren, her family, and God’s creation. She never met a stranger and took every opportunity to tell them of God’s love. She was blessed with four children (Kit, Jane, Ken and Allyson) and the Lord watched over them all, but it wasn’t always easy.
Betty moved her four children to Waycross from Folkston in 1964 with no husband, no job and no car. Knowing she could not do it alone, she sat on the canal bank at Mary Street Park and prayed to the Lord for His will to be done in her life. He opened doors and opened hearts for her and the children. She got a job with the City of Waycross, applied for foodstamps, walked to the grocery store with the children in a wagon (they only knew that it was something fun to do), walked to church, and went to every school function, was a cub scout den mother and sewed clothes for them at night after everyone went to bed. The children never knew they were poor nor felt that they wanted for anything. She made everything fun and interesting for them and they lived a simple, happy life in a safe, loving home. She also taught them morals, manners, etiquette, how to cook, how to sew, exposed them to classical music, and encouraged their artistic talents.
She found a Big Brother for Ken so that he could survive with three sisters. The Lord sent them Mickey. He enjoyed Ken and began taking the entire family on outings where he and Betty fell in love. They were married in 1969 and the ready-made family all moved into Mickey’s home (he said he loved a challenge – working with children and living with them were two different experiences). He served them all breakfast in bed – his way of getting them up to go to school. He introduced everyone to sports and employment and caring for the less fortunate (Garlington Heights play dates and swimming lessons for children with disabilities) and responsibility for themselves and claimed them all as “his” children (until they did something wrong and then they were “Betty’s” children). The children were allowed piano lessons, dance lessons, musical instruments, a horse for the horse-lover, cars when they turned 16, and college educations. The Lord certainly provided for this family that He brought together.
She enjoyed helping Mickey with his Recreational Director role and she and the children all worked in concessions or time/score keeping or grounds keeping or lifeguarding or pool maintenance at the various local sports venues that he managed which served the children and adults of the Waycross community. She painted large murals for the Midget Bowl Football program and designed and built floats for the water shows and sewed various costumes for the children as they participated in the many sport and creative activities.
Betty loved her work at the Waycross Journal-Herald with an added bonus that Mickey dropped in from time to time to deliver his weekly sports column. She made life-long friends there and just before retirement learned and implemented the first business machine accounting system all while also having her aging mother and father live with her in her home. After retirement, she continued to care for her parents until they both went to the nursing home where she visited them every single day.
Around 1978, she began to earnestly study the Bible and joined her cousin, Hazel Cason’s Bible study group which was affiliated with the Laymen’s Home Missionary Movement (now known as Bible Standard Ministries). She learned about God’s plan and love for His creation, including the human race, and about His dear Son, Jesus, who died to redeem them from Adam’s sin. She learned of God’s plan for a heavenly and earthly Kingdom where everyone would have a chance to live forever in peace and harmony and loving the Lord and his servants and each other. She made sure that she shared this message of hope with Mickey, her children and her grandchildren. And they all became adults with her advising them and encouraging them and comforting them with this plan in mind.
She moved to Kennesaw to live with Ken and Lisa in 2002 when Lisa was in heart failure and needed help getting the boys to school. She enjoyed her basement apartment with her three grandsons in the adjacent rooms. After twelve years of living alone in Waycross, she had fellowship and love and the wonderful feeling of contributing again. She continued to study the Bible with her family and her cousin, Marjorie Towery, and her family who lived nearby. As Lisa felt a bit better and the boys got old enough to drive, she went to visit the Bible House headquarters in Pennsylvania and worked as a cook for a couple of weeks there. Once they met her, they wanted her full time, and the Lord moved her to the Bible House in 2005 (yes, she was 83 years old!) where she worked as bookkeeper, shipping clerk, cook, housekeeper and any other work that was needed, and, of course, in the garden. She loved every minute and was immersed in Bible Study and met so many brethren of like, precious faith from around the world. She thrived there and grew in knowledge and grace that she would continue to share with her family and the brethren and anyone she met for the rest of her life. But that is not where the story ends.
When she turned 90 and things were changing at the Bible House, the Lord moved her back south to Acworth, GA, where she lived in an apartment near Ken and Lisa. She met more new friends there and shared her hope and faith with the other residents. She spent precious time with Ken and Lisa and their family and was then close enough for her other children to visit. But as the Lord would have it, Ken was transferred to Colorado for work, so she finally gave in to moving to Florida to live with Allyson and Mark, but only because the Lord had just started a Bible Study class in West Palm Beach where she would share her knowledge, experience and insight with the brethren there. She also brought much-needed furniture with her and provided a companion for the cat who had lived home alone during the day for quite a few years. Knowing how much she loved having her four children together with her, the Lord moved Kit and Jane to Okeechobee and Palm City where they have spent the past three years enjoying each other. Ken and Lisa would also come and spend weeks at a time with her, and she was so happy and content when her brood was complete.
Betty loved being outside and spent many hours in the warm Florida sunshine. She designed pathways and flower beds and planted and weeded gardens around the 5-acre property until she became ill a few months ago. Yes, all through her 90’s, she could be seen at various times of the day admiring the flowers or moving them a few inches to the left or right to make the artistic picture in her head match the grounds before her. She never ceased to amaze anyone who met her with her smile and energy and fondness for almost anyone who crossed her path. When they asked her how she did it, she would smile and say “I was blessed by the Lord”.

Letter to the editor re: obit – https://www.capitalgazette.com/opinion/letters/ac-ce-letters-20190112-story.html