Betty Bays

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[b]OBITUARY[/b]

Betty Ruth Pelton Bays of Waco passed away Saturday, May 8, 2004, in a local hospital after a brief illness. She was 78.

Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, May 12, at 2 pm at OakCrest Funeral Home, 4520 Bosque Blvd., with Mr. Tom Bedichek, minister, presiding. Burial will follow at Oakwood Cemetery.

The family will receive visitors at OakCrest Funeral Home on Tuesday evening from 6 to 8 o'clock. A memorial video of her life will be shown during the visitation.

Betty was born March 23, 1926 in Anson, Texas to Samuel Nelson Pelton and Bettie Lou Driskill Pelton.

Betty, like many of her generation, was proud to have contributed to the WWII effort in a civilian job rebuilding airplane engines. After the war she married Louis Bays Jr. and settled in Jal, New Mexico. Betty was a devoted mother of four children. Betty and Louis divorced in 1973 and Betty moved to Waco in 1978 where she worked at Southwestern Drug and then at WRS Group until her retirement in 1998.

Betty was an active member of her church, Columbus Avenue Church of Christ, and will be fondly remembered for her tireless efforts to help those in need by driving or preparing meals. She was a great cook and enjoyed sharing new dishes with friends and family. Betty also enjoyed sewing and quilting.

She was an avid reader who kept the name and author of every book she had ever read in several diaries. She spent countless hours with her grandchildren and their friends and was affectionately know by all as "Grandma Betty".

Betty was preceded in death by her parents and two brothers Edward and Marvin Pelton, and her daughter, Barbara Gayle Bays.

She is survived by son, James David Bays, and wife, Kathy of Aztec, New Mexico; daughter Shirley Bays Ganske and husband, Jary of Waco; and son, Kenneth Bays and wife, Karen of Grapevine. Grandchildren Rhea Lynn Bays, and Allan Bays of Aztec New Mexico; Richard Bays and wife, Jennifer of Plano; Karen McCay and husband, Brent of Lubbock; Rodney Ganske and wife, Kathryn of Atlanta, Georgia; Stephen Ganske and Amanda Ganske of Waco; and Kristen Bays and Kyle Bays of Grapevine. Great-grandchildren, Alexander Bays, Margaret Wood, Jack Wood and Hope Bays of Aztec, NM; Kaetlyn, Quinn, and Alyssa Bays of Plano; and Micah and Noah McCay of Lubbock; and many dear friends from the Ladies' Bible Class at Columbus Avenue Church of Christ.

Memorials can be made to Columbus Avenue Church of Christ, 307 N 16th St., Waco, Texas 76701, or to Vanguard College Preparatory School, 2517 Mt. Carmel, Waco, TX 76710.