Bettie Marlow Butler's Obituary
Bettie Marlow Butler
September 25, 1923 – September 4, 2014
Now in Heaven with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Bettie Jane Marlow was born in Dothan, Alabama, to John Leonard and Ada Pearl Towns Marlow, the 5th of eight children. She is preceded in death by her parents and siblings Essie, Broadus, Hannah, James, and JoAnn. She is also preceded in death in 2008 by her loving husband of 62 years, Robert Hodgson Butler. She is survived by her son, Barry, daughter-in-law Anna, and two grandchildren, Jeremiah and Rebekah; sister Barbara (Bruce), brother John L., Jr. (Barbara); sister-in-law, Louise; as well as many cousins, nieces, and nephews.
Bettie spent most of her young life in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the daughter of a Southern Baptist preacher. She joined the Navy in 1944, where she attained the rating of Chief Yeoman and met her husband, also of the Navy. Married in 1946, they soon moved to Tucson and both graduated from The University of Arizona in January 1951, he with a degree in Mining Engineering and she in Education. After graduation they lived in Bisbee and then moved to Southern California, where they lived from 1956 through 1976. Bettie taught Elementary school in both locations as well as Sunday school in California, where she met, mentored, and became a “second mother” to Kathie Bader, nee Negley. They returned to the Tucson area in 1976 and, while living in Rancho Vistoso where sewing, needlework, painting classes, and golfing filled her time, Bettie and Bob both learned to use the computer in their middle to late seventies.
Being a prayer-warrior all her life, Bettie started a prayer meeting in their home which later led to the forming of Vistoso Community Church. In 1992 they returned to the foothills neighborhood they had left and she resided there among friends until 2011 when she moved across town to live next to her son and family until her homegoing. Bettie made lifelong friends wherever she lived and, in 2012, she returned to Central High School in Chattanooga to attend her 70 year class reunion.
A remembrance of her life will be held 3:00 PM Sunday, September 21, 2014, at Desert Son Community Church, 5250 W. Cortaro Road (aka. Cortaro Farms Road), Tucson 85742.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Pan American Literature Mission (PALM), 5215 E. Ft. Lowell Rd., Tucson, AZ 85712, a ministry Bettie held dear.
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