Betty Lou Key

In the early morning of September 24, 2022, Betty Lou Key died peacefully at the age of 94. Betty was born in Chandler, OK to parents Virgil Clark and Ethel Campbell in 1928. She was a cheerleader and majorette in high school. Upon graduating from Chandler High School in Oklahoma in 1946, she went to work as a teller at the Union Bank in Chandler. After he returned from serving in World War II, Betty and Samuel Edward Key began dating, and were married in 1948. Betty and Ed raised two children Karen and David. Betty and Ed were founding members of St. John’s United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City, where Betty served many years as the church Treasurer. Betty loved gardening, hosting parties, chocolate, collecting antiques, and her many pet dogs and cats over the years. Like a woman of the 1950s, she was always dressed nicely. Betty was healthy and fit. She exercised daily up even into her 90’s. She made fabulous homemade rolled dumplings each Thanksgiving that everyone looked forward to. After 56 years of marriage, her beloved husband, Ed, passed away in 2005. But life held a new joy, the birth of her granddaughter, Olivia. Betty enjoyed taking care of Olivia most Friday nights for many years and loved Olivia “to the moon and back.” Moon was one of Olivia’s first words. Betty was preceded in death by her father, Virgil, her mother Ethel, her brothers Gerald and Vernon, and her husband, Ed. Betty is survived by her two children, Karen Vicchio and David Key and his wife Lori, her granddaughter Olivia, her niece, Lori Riley, and nephews Ron Clark and Rick Clark. Special thanks to her neighbors who watched out for her and helped her in small but appreciated way. Special recognition to her daughter, Karen, who talked with her mom multiple times each day during the lonely days of Covid, and who stayed with her for the last few weeks of her life.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.billmerrittfuneralservice.com for the Key family.