Betty Louise Spivey

Betty Louise Spivey passed away peacefully in her sleep on the morning of May 2nd, 2024, after entering hospice following a broken hip. She was 85 years old, born to Offie and Dillard Helton in Middletown Ohio on January 18th, 1939.

She was 5 years old when she moved to Tucson Arizona with her family, where she was part of the first graduating class at Pueblo High School, later earning her Associates in Accounting from Pima Community College, and working for the county as a respected accountant and auditor.

She was deeply involved in her Pentecostal church community, where she met and married John Thurston Spivey. Their sons Jerry and Gary were born in 1965 and 1967, and after her husband fell sick she became the primary breadwinner. She worked the dayshift as a county bookkeeper and the nightshift as a custodian at the county hospital, all while raising her children, cooking dinners and taking college courses during her lunch breaks, waking as early as 4am to study. She was married for 26 years, before her husband passed away from a heart attack on September 24th, 1985.

On November 1st, 1990, she re-married to Richard Bonesteel, and later became a doting grandmother, unembarrassed to spoil her grandchildren and let them eat cake for breakfast.

She lived a life of hard work, steadfast faith, and devotion to her family. She is remembered for her skill in the kitchen, her shrewdness with money, her long, impassioned prayers, her gifts as a storyteller, her meticulous cleaning, and the lavishness of her love. The lives of her descendants are a testament to her own life.

She is survived by her husband Richard Bonesteel; her two sons; her daughters-in-law Debbie and Susan; five grandchildren, Jessica, Alex, Hannah, AJ, and Allison; and one great-grandson, Nathan Michael Petrick.

A graveside service will be held at South Lawn Cemetery in Tucson, Arizona on Thursday, May 23rd at 10:30 AM.