Betty A Ferguson

ELIZABETH [BETTY] ADELE STEWART, Professor Emeritus and former Chairperson of the Division of Dance in the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University, passed away on February 20, 2016, from complications due to Alzheimer’s. Born in Dallas, Texas on June 10, 1928, to Fred and Nell Stewart, Betty was raised in Irving, Texas where she was a 1945 graduate of Irving High School. She earned a BBA degree from North Texas State Teachers College (University of North Texas) in 1949, where she was active in campus activities, served as president of the Kappa Kappa Kappa sorority, and met her husband Joe Durwood Ferguson. After marrying on March 31, 1950, Betty became a faculty member at Irving High School and Joe was employed with Mobil Oil Corporation (Magnolia Petroleum Company). Upon receiving an MFA degree in Dance from Southern Methodist University in 1967, Betty joined the faculty of the Dance Division in the Meadows School of the Arts at SMU. During her tenure, she directed the Dance Preparatory Program, was Director of the Graduate MFA Program, and subsequently served as Chair of the Dance Division. Betty was the recipient of the 1984-85 Meadows Foundation Distinguished Professor Award for outstanding achievement in teaching. Post-retirement, she was honored by the Dallas Dance Council as the recipient of the Mary M. Bywaters Award for Lifetime Achievement in Dance. Betty was an active lay person at St. John’s Episcopal Church, having served on the Altar Guild and as director of the Thursday Challenge Program. Community efforts include choreography for a variety of Dallas theatres such as Theatre Three and the Dallas Shakespeare Festival, choreography/staging of the Dallas Junior League Annual Ball Showcases, choreography/co-direction of the British rock musical Liberty Ranch! at SMU’s Bob Hope Theatre and The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., and staging of Lachrymae Mariae: Seven Tears and a Pavane at St. John’s Episcopal Church. Preceded in death by her husband Joe D. Ferguson, parents Fred and Nell Stewart, and sister Nel Decker, she is survived by her two daughters Susan Zachary and Joann Browning and their husbands Ed Zachary and Bill Browning; grandsons Chase Zachary and husband David Vinyard, Matthew Zachary and wife Maria, Ryan Browning and wife Danielle, and Alan Browning; great-granddaughters Mila Zachary and Ellison Browning; and nieces Laura Decker and Sarah Stangl. Visitation will be Tuesday, February 23, 2016, from 6-8 pm at Sparkman Crane Funeral Home, 10501 Garland Road, Dallas, TX 75218. A Requiem Eucharist will be celebrated on Wednesday, February 24, 2016, at 10:30 a.m. at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 848 Harter Road, Dallas, TX 75218. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to St. John’s Episcopal Church, the SMU Dance Division at Meadows School of the Arts, or the Alzheimer’s Association.