Betty Jean Rhodes

Funeral service for Betty Jean Rhodes will be held 2:00 p.m. Tuesday, April 2, 2013 at the Musgrove-Merriott-Smith chapel. Burial will follow at Oowala Cemetery.

Betty passed away Friday, March 29, 2013 at the age of 84.

The daughter of John and Effie Lewis Roberts was born August 2, 1928 in Skiatook, Oklahoma. As a young girl she was raised in the Skiatook area. There she attended Barnsdall High School graduating in 1948. One day while returning home on a Greyhound bus, she met Noble David Rhodes. In 1948 they were married. They made their home in Tulsa, until moving to Claremore settling in the Oowala community around 1952. A few years later they opened the White Sewing Center in Claremore. She owned and operated it until 1990. Betty also volunteered at the Claremore VA for fifteen years.

Betty loved living in the country. It allowed her to take long scenic walks, raise flowers, grow a garden, and fish which was one of her favorite pastimes. She was also a member of Sageeyah Baptist Church.

She is preceded in death by her parents, John and Effie Roberts; husband Noble David Rhodes; son, Steven Rhodes; brothers: Johnny Roberts, Earl Roberts, Ralph Roberts, Regis Henderson, and Orval Henderson; and sister, Violia Fritz.

Survivors include her sons, Alan Rhodes and wife Jenny of Gate City, Virginia, and John Rhodes and wife Janet of Broken Arrow; sisters, Lucille Sheppard of Skiatook, and Ellen McDougal of Sapulpa; grandchildren, Melissa Lahmeyer of Claremore, DeAnna Lutz, and Charity Bowman of Broken Arrow, David Rhodes and Danny Rhodes of Houston, Texas, Mark Rhodes, John Paul Rhodes, and Joey Rhodes of Virginia; 11 great-grandchildren, and 1 great-great-grandchild.