Betty Alice Wehunt

Notes:

Ada Evening News
Tuesday, June 18. 1957

Sulphur

Betty Alice Wehunt Will Teach in Denver

Miss Betty Alice Wehunt is spending the summer in the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. A. R. Wehunt. Miss Wehunt, who received her bachelor's degree in education from the Oklahoma State University at Stillwater, plans to teach in Denver, Colorado next year.

Obituary

Betty Alice Strong passed away on April 29, 2013. Betty was born in Ada OK on March 4th, 1935 to Arthur and Evelyn Wehunt and spent her childhood in Sulphur OK, graduating from Sulphur High School in 1953.

At Oklahoma A&M in Stillwater OK, Betty was an active member of Kappa Delta sorority. While at A&M she met her future husband, William R "Bill" Strong on a blind date. After receiving her BA degree in Home Economics in 1957 she started her career as a school teacher in Denver, CO and she and Bill, then a member of the US Army, were married in Colorado Springs in Feb. 1958.

Together they enjoyed living around the United States (Oklahoma, Texas, California, Louisiana, Maryland and Virginia) and Germany (Berlin and Stuttgart) for over twenty years as members of the US Army, raising four sons and making many lifelong friends along the way.

She lived in the Oklahoma City area from 1978, where she has been an active member of the Putnam City Baptist Church and a Regional Manager for Hearst Business Publications for Oklahoma and the surrounding states. After her retirement in 2004 she and Bill spent winters in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas where she was also a member of the First Baptist Church.

Always an active person, her love of learning and travel continued throughout her life. She traveled extensively with family and friends all over the U.S., Europe, China and Northern Africa, and was actively planning new travel adventures with her grandchildren at the time of her passing.

She relished spending time with her five grandchildren at every opportunity. Being with them always brought her great joy.

Always elegant, always positive, her passion for life was contagious and lives on in all who knew her, and her deep love for her family and friends will forever be a cherished memory and a comfort for all the loved ones she leaves behind.

Betty is survived by her husband, Bill Strong; her sister, Lynda Wehunt Soady of Washington DC and her husband Bob Soady and son Rick Lewis; her son Richard Strong of San Francisco, CA; her son John Strong of Winston Salem, NC and his wife Kim and son Benjamin; her son Stanley Strong of Piedmont, OK and his wife Ginger and daughters Kennedy, Brooklyn and Rayanna; her son Gregory Strong of San Francisco, CA and his wife Cecilia and son Max.

The funeral service will be held at 10am Friday, May 3rd, 2013 at Mercer-Adams Funeral Service, 3925 North Asbury Avenue, Bethany, OK.

Excerpts from her eulogy, written by son Richard Strong

Good morning everyone, thanks very much for being here. Today, I'd like to share a couple of stories that Mom and I always enjoyed remembering together.

As most of you know, ours was an Army household, and while the boys were growing up we moved every three years or so to a new place. Some folks wouldn't like that type of life, but Betty saw it as an opportunity, taking full advantage of what each new place had to offer. We had the opportunity to live in Germany on two different tours, and during the first of those tours we took a family vacation to Greece.

While in Athens, we visited the Acropolis one morning, strolling around the ruins. I was pretty young, but I could see that Mom was fascinated by the history and by the setting. Now at that time on the Acropolis there were a lot of small pieces of rock and broken marble on the ground around the Parthenon. I decided to preserve the moment (or perhaps it was just boys being boys), and I reached down and picked up a hefty specimen and said "Mom, hide this in your purse!". She took the chunk of marble, looked around, smiled conspiratorially, opened her purse and nonchalantly dropped it right in.

I still have that piece of marble today. I think it's time to have it framed with a plaque that says "My Mom stole this from the steps of the Parthenon. What a gal!".

A little later that day Mom wanted to stroll around, and she and I ended up off the normal tourist path and back in a local working class neighborhood.
Well, it was lunch time, and Mom picked this small local place on the side of a busy road ? I had no idea why and truth be told I was a little uneasy. But I tell ya, the folks at this place were very friendly and more than happy to seat us, but they didn't speak any English. And there were no English menus. So, after a couple of minutes of unsuccessful menu charades the waiter motions to Mom and I to follow him. Mom is game to see what's going on so she pops right up and says let's go. I'm thinking I really have no idea what's happening here.

The waiter leads us across the busy road and inside a small building across the street. It turns out we're in a small kitchen with several large pots simmering on the stove. The waiter says something to the cook, who smiles and motions us over. He opens each of the pots so that we can see what's cooking, and Mom tells me we get to pick which one we want for lunch. Mom is having a great time, and me, I'm just trying to see whether there is anything that I can recognize in those pots.

So we both choose our main course, the waiter escorts us back across the street and then a few minutes later he treks back across the street and returns wielding a big tray with our meals. It was delicious.

Something clicked in my mind - this is kinda fun, Mom is kinda cool, I want to do this again!

That was my first lesson in how to travel, and it came directly from my Mom - appreciate the local history, show an interest in the culture, get off the beaten path and more often than not, you'll find some locals that are excited to show you around.

As I matured I grew to admire and appreciate more and more her desire to travel, and her appetite for new experiences. Because of her example, I now have many wonderful travel memories of my own.

In fact one of those memories comes from a trip that Mom and I took together.

A few years ago when my brother John and his family were living in Nanjing, China, Mom and I paid a visit. We had a wonderful time, and Mom thoroughly enjoyed all of the cultural and historical sites, as well as the local markets and restaurants that John and Kim showed us. While we were there we had lots of fabulous meals, but Mom loved recalling a story about one of our dinners in particular.

John and Kim had arranged a very nice dinner for us with their colleagues from work, and we had a grand dinner in a private room. Everything smelled and tasted wonderful, and then a special dish arrived and it was placed on the table in front of Mom. John explained to Mom that as guest of honor, as his Mom and the eldest guest, she was being given the honor of having the first bite of.... an artfully plated entr?e of...

Turtle!

John continued and told Mom that the turtle's shell, which was detached and sitting on top of the rest of the turtle entree, had been slow cooked so that you could bite into it and eat the outer layers. That's apparently where she should start.

While John was explaining this. I could see Mom's eyes getting bigger and bigger, and when it was time for her to take the first bite, she looked all around the table, her gaze finally settling on me and she said "Riiiich, I think this is something that you might like to try!"

So that's how I got my first taste of turtle, and in that one bite earned a week's worth of brownie points and saved my Mom from trying to pick up an entire turtle shell with a pair of chopsticks.

You know, after I heard of Betty's passing on Monday, that evening I sat in front of my computer and looked at hundreds of pictures that I had of her. Viewing those pictures made me realize all over again what a passion she had for living, and how much she enjoyed her time with her family and friends.

I'm certain that passion for life that she had lives on in each one of us who had the privilege to know her.

In particular, as I look around and see her grandchildren, I'm thankful that each of them got to experience her generous spirit and to know how much she loved them. I look forward to hearing about their adventures and their accomplishments and thinking about how proud Betty would be of them.

Lastly, as I look at her life, and the example she set for me personally, I know I'll always tell anyone willing to listen what a wonderful woman she was, and how proud I am to call myself her son

Betty married William Robert Strong on 22 Feb 1958 in Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Colorado. William (son of Homer Richard Strong and Anna Laura Payne) was born on 20 Feb 1934 in Duncan, Stephens County, Oklahoma; died on 4 Mar 2024 in Yukon, Canadian County, Oklahoma. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Married:
The Ada Evening News
Friday, June 13, 1958 Page 7
Courtesy Compliments Bride Who Will Join Her Husband Soon in Baltimore, Maryland
Mrs. Betty Wehunt Strong, who was a member of the Denver, Colorado, public school faculty this past term, will leave soon for Baltimore, Maryland. She will join her husband who is stationed at Fort ???. A postnuptial shower was given Monday evening in Fellowship Hall of the Calvary Baptist Church, Sulphur, to honor her. Co-hostesses were Mrs. Raymond Danner, Mrs. Oscar Huffines, Mrs. Kyle Sheegog, Mrs. Louis Schepp, Mrs. C. H. Abernathy, Mrs. J. D. Niblack, Mrs. Jack Donald, Mrs. L. O. Warren, Mrs. Arnold Aaron, Mrs. Carl Goddard, Mrs. S. T Peak, Mrs. C. E. Yates, and Mrs. Roy Howeth.
Mrs. Robert Blackburn registered the guests.
The honoree, assisted by her mother, Mrs. A. R. Wehunt, and her mother-in-law, Mrs. H. R. Strong, Duncan, opened the gifts. Mrs. Pat Kubik, Duncan, cousin of the bridegroom, assisted with the ribbons. Gifts were registered by Mrs. Thurman Brogin.
The tea table was laid with a white linen cloth, centered with a three tiered white cake. A pair of crystal candelabra holding pink tapers and a crystal punch bowl complemented the table appointments. Mrs. Donald Farr, Oklahoma City, served the punch.
The guest list included?..Viola Weaver, Mrs. Eldon Pickrell, Mrs. Carl Ables, Mrs. Barl Russell, Mrs. Richard Stark, and Myrtis Gentry, all of Duncan?Mrs. Geoge Wehunt and Mrs. Lowell Wehunt, Okemah?.(approximately 100 to 150 additional names omitted from this transcription).

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