[ad_1]
Betty L. Penny
May 24, 1937 – November 22, 2021
Garner, North Carolina – Betty Lou Rowe Penny, born May 24, 1937 to the late Robert Alvin Rowe and Leoria Cook Rowe, died November 22, 2021. Betty Lou grew up in Garner and graduated from Garner High School in 1955. She graduated from Woman’s College with a degree in home economics in 1959, which later became the Co-ed University of North Carolina at Greensboro. On February 2, 1957, she married her high school sweetheart Horace in Ft. Benjamin Harrison near Indianapolis, Indiana, where he was stationed in the US Army and later deployed to Korea. After Betty Lou graduated, she taught in South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama before returning to North Carolina. She taught home economics and marriage and family life at Rocky Mount Senior High in the 1970s. Betty Lou was a firm believer in higher education. While teaching and raising a family of three, she earned her masters degree from East Carolina University by attending night school. She has taught deaf and blind students at Raleigh Governor Morehead School and completed her career in Nash County as a career guidance counselor. After retiring, Horace and Betty Lou enjoyed finishing their travels to all 50 states. Betty Lou had a lifelong love of playing the piano and played frequently in church. Betty Lou was an avid bridge player for over 50 years. She enjoyed her Rocky Mount Bridge Club and continued to travel there from Fuquay-Varina, and she joined a local bridge club to keep playing when she couldn’t make the trip to Rocky Mount. She was a generous supporter of UNCG, her alma mater. She was a past president and actively involved in the MU Chapter of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society International for Outstanding Educators.
She died of her 62-year-old husband Horace Donald Penny, her sister Ann Rowe Baucom and her brother Derrieux “Derry” Rowe. Her memory remains: the daughters Melinda Canady and her late husband Wayne (Bubba) from Clayton, Melanie Penny from Fuquay-Varina, Melissa Murphy and her husband Charles from Austin, Texas; her grandchildren Austin and Jacob Murphy of Austin, Texas; her precious great-grandchildren Sawyer and Charlotte Helms of Fuquay-Varina and her father Staff Sergeant Thomas Helms, USMC of Beaufort, South Carolina; and her brother-in-law, William B Baucom of Raleigh. Special thanks go to Raymundo and Norma, who have enriched the lives of Horace and Betty Lou. Your help, love and support and visits to Betty Lou after moving to Windsor Point have been invaluable. She leaves her family with a legacy of love and faith in her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. She is very much missed by her daughters and their families, her extended family and many friends.
Shortly after Horace’s death in 2019, Betty Lou needed 24/7 care due to her deteriorating health. She moved to their assisted living unit in the Windsor Point Retirement Community in Fuquay-Varina in January 2020. She lived in Chelsea Hall and was loved and cared for by many wonderful volunteers, CNAs, TNAs, medical technicians and nurses. She was treated like family and affectionately called Miss Betty, Ma, Penny Penny, Bad Betty, Nana and Mama by her new foster family at Chelsea Hall. So many were involved in caring for them that we cannot name them all, but they know how much we value and love them. The family would also like to thank the many Transitions LifeCare employees who have taken on their hospice care over the past few months.
COVID proved difficult and challenging for residents, staff and families. The residents were locked in their rooms and allowed window visits later. The isolation has been tough for residents and their families, especially those who contracted COVID like Betty Lou. The family is so grateful that most of these restrictions have been lifted and have been allowed to visit them frequently in the past few months.
The family invites you to celebrate life on Friday, November 26, 2021 at 1:00 p.m. at 1:00 p.m. at Bryan-Lee Chapel in Garner, North Carolina. Reverend Tom Newman will conduct the service at 2:00 p.m. Flowers are kindly accepted or commemorative contributions can be made to Transitions LifeCare, Wake County SPCA, or a charity or church of your choice
Published by The News & Observer on November 25, 2021.
[ad_2]
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/newsobserver/name/betty-penny-obituary?id=31646073
