My Aunt Betty's funeral was last week. After spending Friday with our son and his family, we went to the funeral home in Bella Vista and met my Uncle Bill and my cousins, Marc and Marty and their families.
Our son, Josh, led the service. He spoke words of such comfort and encouragement.
A book he referred to that has become one of my favorites is "All Things New" by John Eldredge.
People often imagine that we become angels, or that we sit on clouds and strum harps. Please read this book and get a new perspective of how amazing and spectacular heaven will be - it will NOT be at all boring!!
The kids did a great job of putting up photos.
Isn't this sweet? I had never seen it before! Aunt Betty in color (is she in a bird bath?) and Uncle Bill at the same age added in black and white.
Here is a photo I found of the family.
Aunt Betty is the "baby". Dad always called her his baby sister. All are in heaven now.
We lived in Japan so I didn't get to know them until I was older. I do remember getting air mail letters from them. We were so excited for them when they adopted a little baby they named Mary Martha, after her two grandmothers! It happened so fast they didn't even have bottles for this new baby!
A few years later, Marc, the miracle baby, arrived! He is named after his two grandfathers!
When we moved to the States, we lived in Pretty Prairie and they moved to town by the city park. We weren't that far away so Marty would come to play sometimes. Then when Al and I were at KU in Lawrence, they lived in Topeka and we would go visit them and also Uncle John and Aunt Mildred. Now that they lived an hour from my son, we stopped to see them when we'd go there and either go out to eat or visit at their place.
Betty Jo Engle, age 86, of Pineville, Missouri passed away peacefully at home, Monday, December 23, 2019. She was born in Castleton, Kansas, August 27, 1933 to the late Carl G. Voran and Martha F. (Unruh) Voran.
Mrs. Engle was also preceded in death by her siblings and their spouses: Helen Mitchell and husband Doc, Mildred Austermiller and husband John, Mary Hayes and husband Lee, and Peter Voran and wife Lois.
My parents are on the right.
Mrs. Engle is survived by her beloved husband of 60 years, George W. Engle; one daughter, Mary Martha Chambers, her husband Brian, their children Collin and Gretchen; one son, Marcus Carl Engle, his wife Janelle and their children, Carly and Piper. (don't have a picture of their family)
She grew up in Kansas and graduated from the Pretty Prairie High School. She was a nurse with the Mennonite Youth Service volunteering her services at a hospital in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania where she met her future husband through his sister, Irene, who happened to be a patient she was working with at the time.
She enjoyed baking snickerdoodles for family and friends, including her children’s friends and later for her grandchildren. She enjoyed reading and spending time with her family. Her children and grandchildren were the joy of her life. She was a wonderful and devoted wife, mother, sister, aunt, grandmother and treasured friend. She will be missed by so many.
Mrs. Engle always offered a smile, a hug and genuine care for others and above all, she put others before herself. She was raised in a family of faith and retained her belief and hope in God’s grace.
The family wishes to express their thanks and appreciation to the Missouri Hospice caregivers for their dedicated service in caring for Mrs. Engle during the past several years.
A Memorial Service will be (was) held January 18
th at 1:00 p.m. at Bella vista Funeral Home Chapel, Bella Vista, Arkansas. A private interment was held at Fayetteville National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to a church or charity of the donor’s choice.
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We said our good-byes and drove back home, a 4 1/2 hour trip.
We stopped at HuHot in Wichita.
The next morning, Al was commissioned as an elder.
It was a fast trip to Arkansas and back!
