Betty Lou Hicks Shirley

Published 4:44 pm Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Betty Lou Hicks Shirley, 85, of Elizabethton, went home to be with her Lord on Monday, April 8, 2019, at Johnson City Medical Center. She was born December 3, 1933 in Johnson City to the late Joseph and Armitta Bowers Hicks. She came to Elizabethton at an early age to live with her uncle and aunt, Albert and Grace Hicks.
Betty was a 1952 graduate of Elizabethton High School. She was an active member of Calvary Baptist Church, where she was active in the WMU serving as Director and she loved working in Vacation Bible School. She was a homemaker, loved to cook, sew, and go camping and spending winters in Florida.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband of 65 years, Eddie M. Shirley, who passed away January 16, 2018; a granddaughter, Rachael Whaley; her sisters, Irene Greene and Ada Mae Byrd; her brother, Joe Hicks; and a sister-in-law, Betty Jean Shirley.
Survivors include her children, Debra Sanders and husband David, Johnson City, Eddie Martin Shirley II and wife Jane, Knoxville, Keith Shirley and wife Barbara, Kingsport, and Diane Whaley and husband Mike, Gray; eight grandchildren, Jamie Singer, Aaron McGhee, Andrea Hamilton, John Shirley, Josh Lane, Andrew Whaley, Joey Sanders and Matthew Sanders; 11 great-grandchildren, Caroline, Ellie, Max, Kaelynn, Carsen, Henry, Lena, Brook, Jackson, Valeria and Allison; her siblings, Charles Hicks, Kingsport, Phyllis Sparks and husband Hartsell, Jonesborough, Kenneth Walker and wife Mabel, Johnson City, and Eileen Blevins and husband Ron, Limestone; several nieces and nephews; and her sister-in-law, Georgia McClain.
Funeral services for Betty Lou Hicks Shirley will be conducted at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 11, at Memorial Funeral Chapel with Dr. Joe Sorah and Pastor Steve Pate officiating. Music will be provided by Austin Mitchell, soloist, and Tina South, pianist. The graveside service and interment will be at 11 a.m. Friday, April 12, at Happy Valley Memorial Park with Pastor Jacob Guinn officiating. Active pallbearers will be grandsons and a very special friend, Jimmy Street. Honorary pallbearers will be her church family. The family would like to express a special “Thank You” to the staff of Agape Nursing Home and Rehab. The family will receive friends from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home. Family and friends will assemble at the funeral home at 10:20 a.m. Friday to go to the cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in memory of Mrs. Shirley to the Alzheimer’s Foundation, 202 Meadowview Parkway, Suite 100, Kingsport, TN 37660 or Calvary Baptist Church, 225 Holly Lane, Elizabethton, TN 37643. Condolences may be sent to the family at our website, www.memorialfcelizabethton.com.
Memorial Funeral Chapel is serving the Shirley family.