Betty Jo Woodson Byrom

Betty Jo Byrom, age 86, of Gatesville, passed away on Thursday, March 8, 2012. A Private Graveside Service will be held by the family. All of Betty’s friends and family are invited to a reception celebrating her life in the fellowship hall at Live Oak Baptist Church at 4:00 P.M. on Sunday, March 11, 2012. Betty was born in Ft. Worth, Texas on January 17, 1926 to the late Robert Lee Woodson, Sr. and Pat Millaway Woodson. She attended school in the Ewing community through the tenth grade and graduated from Gatesville High School in 1944. She married J.C. Byrom on February 5, 1949 and they made their home in Gatesville. Betty was employed at Fort Hood for 36 years, where she worked as a Budget Officer in the Comptroller’s Office. She became a member of Live Oak Baptist Church in 1958. She loved her church family and taught in the Junior Department and served as co-director of the Sunday School Department for many years. She was always eager to do anything that was needed at Live Oak and was the person everyone seemed to depend on to always have the answer. She truly had a servant’s heart. I Timothy 1:12 describes her well, “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength to do his work. He considered me trustworthy and appointed me to serve him.” Betty was a member of the International Toastmistress Club at Ft. Hood where she won many awards for public speaking. She was also a member of the Morris Federation. Betty loved to write letters and cards to her friends and family. She was an organizer, always keeping her files and her family straight. She also wrote poems and interesting notes on anything and everything. She looked forward to seeing old friends and classmates at the Ewing Picnic held every 4th of July. One of her favorite things to do was to play 84 with her mother, brothers and sisters (always using the Woodson codes for bidding or “indicating”). She adored her three grandkids and kept scrapbooks and scores for every sport they played. Betty loved all people and animals. Betty is survived by her daughters, Cindy Waters and husband Ted of Gatesville and Margaret Pancake and husband Joe of Gatesville; brothers, R.L. Woodson, Jr. of Gatesville, Mike Woodson and wife Trudy of Waco, and Jack Woodson and wife June of Bossier City, LA; sisters Mary Ann Voss of Belton and Virginia Fowler and husband John of Gatesville; grandchildren, Jeb Waters of Gatesville, Joe Byrom Pancake and Brandi Moser of Hamilton, and Laura Lee Haines and husband Brett of Gatesville; two great grandchildren, Sage Haines and Jacob Pat Pancake, and many nieces and nephews. She was especially proud of her nephew, Robert Fowler and loved to hear him sing. The family requests no flowers please. Donations in her memory can be made to Live Oak Baptist Church, 103 FM 107, Gatesville, Texas.