Bettye Burroughs Justis, our sweet mother, went to heaven to be with our dear father. She left this earth on February 24, 2013, at 7:52 am peacefully and without pain.
Mom was born on December 25, 1941, to George Haley Burroughs and Marie Olivea Jones Burroughs in Brownwood, Texas. She graduated from Brownwood High School in 1959.Shortly after graduation, she married Charles G. Justis, Jr. December 29, 1959, after she turned 18.
Mom aspired to be a Nurse but ended up taking a job to help get dad through Southwestern Seminary to be a Baptist Minister. They landed a job in Warren Texas at Bethel Baptist Church and started a family. After several years in Warren Texas, they moved to Mason Texas to Minister the First Baptist Church of Mason where another child was born. She worked at Davenport Pharmacy as a secretary to help support the family on a minister’s salary. Following Dad to Cedar Creek to start a new Church, she took a job at the Department of Human Services and then transferred to the Texas School for the Deaf where she retired after 25 years of Service.
Mom was blessed with the gift of laughter that she shared with everyone she met. Even if you did not want to laugh, you would because you could hear her Thunderous laugh throughout the building or wherever she was. She would become so flustered with signing at the Deaf School it was said that she made up her own sign language and would begin laughing and would forget what she was doing. She blessed her children with that same gift and stressed the love of family. After retirement if she was not traveling with her sisters, she was with her daughters on an antique hunt that would last a lifetime. After her grandchildren were born, that became the focus of her life. The road was hot back and forth to Rockport. She loved the extension of her children more than life itself. Mom became a confidant, nanny, and warm place to fall. When she rolled up in the Tahoe, the excitement was chilling as the grandchildren jumped up and down hollering Nana.
In 2006 she suffered a stroke that left her incapacitated to some, but she still was never to be stopped. Those antiques had to be bought, and the grandchildren had to be spoiled. Though the last few years she was in and out of the hospital, she forged a strong relationship with the Nurses in the Emergency Room and the Nurses of 3 South. From the time she rolled in by ambulance, she was known as Momma Justis. After taking an unexpected turn for the worse on Tuesday night, her family rallied around her never leaving her side. The influx of Nurses and Techs from North Austin Medical Center through the ICU was a tremendous tribute to our mother as well as emotional show of support for our Family.
She is survived by her daughters, Tammy Justis, Teri Ridgway-Newman and Sherry Justis McDaniel and her husband Thomas; grandchildren, Dylan, Logan, Oliveia, and Aubrey McDaniel of Rockport, Texas; adopted grandson and special caregiver, Hobart Oliver Bolding of Cedar Creek; sisters, Judy Burroughs of Brownwoodand Nancy Hayse of Denton, Texas, and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins that she maintained a close relationship with. We would also like to give a warm thanks to Goldie Sabin for stepping in through the years at the last minute and helping us anyway she could.
Mom, you fought the good fight, and you will be sorely missed by all that knew you. Your unconditional love for your children and the people around you is instilled in all that knew you. Your family will continue to love, laugh, laugh often this I know. Thank you for making the decision you made on early Sunday morning, Peace at last.
We would like to thank the nurses and staff of North Austin Medical Center from the Emergency Room, 3 South, Ancillary staff and Special Thanks to the ICU team as well as Dr. Michael Schindel.
Services will be at Davis Morris Funeral Home in Brownwood Texas. Viewing will be at Davis Morris Funeral Home from 6-8 on Wednesday Night and the service will be at 12pm on Thursday. She then will be interned at East Lawn Cemetery in Early, Texas next to our Father.
