Betty Jean Miller

After decades of health issues, her body finally wore out. She assured us that after 2 1/2 years of being bed ridden and without, her Sweetheart, Roger, she was ready to go.

Betty was born on Friday, January 2, 1931 in Louisville, Kentucky. She was born to Mary Belle Ryan Matthews and George Edward Matthews, Sr.

Betty was born at home, after her mother, Mary, endured a long and difficult labor. Mary delivered a limp, lifeless baby girl. As the story goes, the doctor told Mary's aunt, “Auntie”, (Addison Ryan) to take care of the baby, while he took care of the mother who wasn’t doing well. Luckily, Auntie was patient and didn't give up. She ran cold water over Betty's body, rubbed her and offered a few prayers. After 15 minutes or so, Betty was crying and breathing well. Fortunately, Mary recovered too.

After a dramatic entrance into the world, Betty lived a fairly typical depression era childhood. She didn't go hungry, but they were not well off either.

She has an older half-brother who was called Junior or Junie. He was 5 years old when Betty came along. His mother, Philysean Betty Ormes Matthews, passed away a few years earlier from an infection around her heart. When his father, George Sr., married Mary, she took in Junie as her own. He was a good older brother and looked out for his new baby sister. Through the years Betty and Junie tried to keep a close relationship.

Something that was unique about her childhood was that she grew up near the Churchill Downs horse racetrack. She grew up being able to hear the races, and she could sit on the fence of her backyard to watch the horses run.

She loved to play paper dolls with her cousin, Margaret; however her real passion became reading! She read The Iliad and The Odyssey before she was a teenager. Sometimes she would stay up half the night reading, because she was so wrapped up in the story. She often read in bed with a flashlight, so she wouldn't get in trouble for being up so late.

When Betty was quite young, she married and had a daughter and named her Cheri Louise. After just 3 years, and trying hard to make her marriage work, it was evident that it was not a good situation to raise a child in, so she filed for divorce. That was an especially hard thing for a young woman to do in that day, but she was determined that she would give her daughter the best life possible.

Betty moved in with her mother, Mary, who Cheri called Mimi, her grandmother (Sarah Ann Stewart Ryan) and great aunt (Addison Stewart Ryan). Cheri was suddenly blessed with several

strong women, who adored her, and helped to raise her.

After a few years, Betty made a decision that would change the course of her life forever. She decided that she needed to start a new chapter in her life, and she decided that San Diego, California was the place to do that. She told her mother about her decision, and Mimi and her new husband, James Patrick McCann, aka Jim, and Auntie, and Sarah Ann Stewart, Mimi's mother, all decided to go to The Golden State! Within a week's time, they sold the house, bought a new car, packed it up and headed off on their adventure.

After a short time in San Diego, Betty had a job at a high end dress shop. She loved the beautiful clothes and received a generous discount, but since she wasn't really dating, she had nowhere to wear the fancy dresses she tried on at the shop.

The owner of the shop offered to Betty that she could attend dances for the young adults at her church, and she could wear a new dress. Betty decided to accept the offer, not knowing how much it would change her life.

When she attended the dances, she made friends and ended up going to church with the friends, and being taught, converted and eventually baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. This was the first important change in her life.

At one dance, in 1953, Betty "saw a stranger across a crowded room", and just like the lyrics from "Some Enchanted Evening," she fell in love. Luckily, Roger took one look at Betty, who was all dressed up, wearing red lipstick, and looking like a movie star, and he was smitten too. Fortunately, Betty loved that Roger could carry on a conversation better than most men she had met, and Roger loved Betty's strong and spunky personality. After dating for a year or so, and even taking a brief break from each other, they were married in the Salt Lake City LDS Temple in September of 1954. This changed her life forever.

Since Cheri was 7 at this time, they became an instant family. Betty had chosen a good man, and Roger and Cheri easily slipped into their roles of Doting Father, and Adoring Daughter. Cheri was excited about her new Daddy, and loved it when he held hands with her and her mother.

Roger had to complete his Navy service, so he and Betty were separated often during their newlywed years. After he was finished in the Navy, Betty gave birth to their one and only son, Ronald Jay. As anyone who watches the home movies can see, Betty and Roger were thrilled to have a new baby, and they eagerly showed him off to family and friends.

A few years later, they added another girl, Terri Kay. Five years later, they had one more girl, Bobbi Lynn, and the family was complete. They went about enjoying a busy, but happy family life, as they raised their children in Sunny San Diego.

Betty loved being a mother and took the role seriously. While she would do anything for her children, she didn't spoil them and she ran a tight ship with rules to be followed. She always kept a lovely home and did it on a budget. This is a talent that she passed down to all 4 children. She always said that "Soap and water are cheap!" She liked to keep her home clean and tidy.

She also loved to decorate and rearrange the furniture. Roger joked that he never knew where the furniture would be from one day to the next. Betty was still giving instructions about adjusting the furniture in her room, just a few days before she passed away.

Over the years, Betty worked off and on. She worked in the office of the Gas company and a swimming pool company, she babysat many children in her home and she managed an antique store for a few years. She was always busy.

She often shared her testimony of God and Jesus Christ. This was something important for her to do at her 90th Birthday party. She wanted to be sure that her posterity knew, that she knew.

Betty gave service her whole life. At church, she taught the children in the Primary organization, taught the women in the Relief Society organization, and she had leadership positions. She took dinner to the sick, delivered secret gifts to those who were struggling, took in foster children, took care of her elderly mother and was always looking for people who needed a little help.

She worried about her Sweetheart, Roger, her children, her extended family, her friends, our soldiers, our presidents, the children of the world and anyone else who needed to be worried about. Some of her last words were worrying about her children and grandchildren. She was more concerned about everyone else than herself.

Betty was a natural beauty and loved everything that was beautiful. Whether it was clothing, jewelry, houses, furniture, antiques or flowers; if it was beautiful, she admired it.

Betty and Roger left San Diego to retire to Mesa, Arizona in 1996. They loved spending their Golden Years in the warm Arizona sunshine. They enjoyed taking road trips that allowed them to explore new places, while Roger took thousands of pictures.

In 2017, she and Roger moved to a home in East Mesa. They asked their granddaughter, Laura Sokol, and her family to move in with them. The plan was that Laura could help Roger take care of Betty. Everyone was shocked when Roger passed away from cancer in August 2018. A few days after Roger passed away, Betty became completely bed bound. She was fortunate to be well taken care of at home, for the last 2 ½ years. Betty tried to handle her final years with grace.

To keep busy:

-She had a plethora of birds outside her window at the bird feeders. She even had a faithful Cardinal, her favorite bird, from her Kentucky roots. He came to visit every day.

-She had TV shows she enjoyed.

-She spent time on the phone with family and friends and even managed to text while dealing with arthritis. Not many octogenarians can text!

-She enjoyed watching church on Zoom for her last year.

-She did crossword puzzles, "to keep her mind sharp!"

-She gave instructions about how to arrange the room

*Most importantly, she never missed the chance to worry about her family and friends and tell them that she loved them!