Betty Davis Lakey

Funeral services for Mrs. Betty Davis Lakey, age 85, of Ravenna, Texas, will be held at 11 AM on Friday, September 8, 2017, in the Wise Funeral Home Chapel. Long-time family friend Brother Duane Peters of Inspiration Point Cowboy Church will officiate. Burial will follow in the Dodd City Cemetery. The family will receive friends at Wise Funeral Home from 6 PM to 8 PM on Thursday, September 7, 2017. Mrs. Lakey passed away on Saturday, September 2, 2017, at The Homestead of Denison.

Betty was born on April 1, 1932, in Hilger, Texas, the daughter of Oscar Sherman Davis and Lucille Deets Davis. She attended Grand Prairie Schools and was a graduate of Dodd City High School, where she enjoyed playing on both the basketball and volleyball teams. She married Roy Thomas Lakey on December 21, 1950, in Dallas, Texas. He preceded her in death on August 22, 2011.

Betty and Roy had three children, and Betty was active both in her children's school activities and in her community. She was a Room Mother for many years, and served as president of the PTA, an organization that honored her work with the PTA Life Member award. In both White Settlement and Ravenna, Betty was active in Texas Democratic Women. She served as a registrar and election official many times, and introduced her children to the importance of being active in politics by taking them with her when she volunteered for various local representatives, including Congressman Jim Wright. Betty always led by example, and wanted her kids to understand that we should each do our part to make the world a better place.

If she had her way, Betty would have had a houseful of grandchildren. Linda earned special points by making Betty a grandmother, but Gary and Lynnette didn't cooperate on that front. Betty was proud to become "Dotta" to first Misty and then Kelly. Those two could light up her eyes like no one else, and It broke her heart when Kelly died in a car accident in 1996. While she was proud of Misty's college degree and professional achievements, Betty was probably most proud when Misty became an urban farmer with a garden and some chickens.

Betty worked for most of her life, starting by picking cotton as a child. As a teenager, she worked in the Kimberly Clark office in Dallas, and later admitted how embarrassed she was to hear people talk about Kotex in mixed company. She worked several years at O'Grady Containers, later at All Church Press, and then at the "Welfare Department," whose name changed to the Department of Human Resources while she worked there. Many of the social workers there were young enough to be her children, so Betty quickly became like a second mom to many of them, whose friendship she treasured throughout her life. Her last (paid) job outside the home was as Postmaster Relief at the Ravenna Post Office, where she knew all her customers by name and had a smile and encouraging word for each of them.

At home, Betty was a better cook than Paula Deen; she made the best chicken & dressing, homemade yeast bread, fried chicken, tea cakes, and many other traditional Southern foods. Holiday meals at her home were always a feast, with enough food to feed a small army. Betty always thought it was important to feed people during times of their greatest need, and for many years, she was the one who could be counted on to organize meals for families with a loved one facing a major illness, and after a death. Betty was also well known for making cakes for special events, and her elaborate wedding cakes were the centerpiece of many reception tables.

For as long as her family can remember, Betty believed in recycling, repurposing, composting, and recovering seeds from sources as diverse as the lemon slice in a glass of tea, to the pumpkins she displayed for Halloween. Growing up on a farm during the lean years after the Great Depression, she had an aversion to throwing away anything that might be put to good use in a new way, and her Native American roots gave her a special affinity for the earth and all plants. When her daughters were young, Betty sewed many dresses for them and used left-over scraps for quilts, and also made clothes for their Barbie dolls. She made bird houses from scrap wood. She used broken pottery and glass to make beautiful mosaic creations for the garden. She made garden whimsies from aluminum cans, plastic bottles, and just about anything else that caught her eye. She did this and more long before there was a movement to be environmentally aware.

Betty often said that she and Roy knew they were lucky to enjoy a long retirement together. Betty was just 50 years old when Roy retired from General Dynamics (now Lockheed). They built their Ravenna home with their own hands, and started a garden where they grew the best sweet corn around. Betty canned green beans, black-eyed peas, tomatoes, and more. She made pickles and canned her own salsa that she dubbed Ravenna Red. Betty and Roy also kept a few head of cattle for many years, and Betty enjoyed keeping goats, rabbits, chickens, ducks, geese, and donkeys. Throughout her life, Betty kept many bird feeders, bird baths, and hummingbird feeders. At their place in Ravenna, she especially enjoyed watching cardinals, hummers, and the occasional painted bunting. As her health declined, she gave up all the livestock, but still tended to her bird feeders, and had a little container garden right next to the front porch.

During their years in Ravenna, Betty and Roy were both active at the Ravenna Community Center. Betty was the president for several years, and Roy served as a trustee. She founded their lending library, starting with books from her personal collection and those she convinced her adult children to donate. Betty always loved to read, and instilled that love in her kids, so family collections could afford to be pared for the benefit of the community center library. Betty also started the "craft days" that are still popular, where people can bring any craft project to the community center and enjoy fellowship with others who share their interests. Many quilts have been laid out (and meals served) on the tables that Betty bought for the community center.

Betty was preceded in death by her parents, son Gary Lakey, son-in-law Jim Brunette, grandson Kelly Brunette, brother Dwain Davis, and sisters Shirley Reece and Brenda Hale.

She is survived by daughters Linda Brunette Redfield and husband Scott of Fort Worth, and Lynnette Lakey Taff and husband Tim of Whitewright; granddaughter Misty Brunette and husband Ryan Smock of Parker County; sisters Virginia McDowell of Ravenna and Sandra Cheowa Mokine of Colorado Springs; and brother Kenneth Davis and wife Vivian "Pill" of Ravenna. Betty counted Don Davis of Artesia, NM, Ron Sharp of Grand Prairie, and Judy Pannell of Denison among several special friends that she called her "adopted kids," with whom she tried to stay in touch even in these last years as her health was declining.