Bettye Drinkard

Bettye Faye Stevens Drinkard passed away on December 11, 2005 in a Waco hospital. She was the daughter of Robert M. and Sallie Murphree Stevens. Bettye graduated from Abbott High School and then attended a business college in Fort Worth. She began her 30 + years in Civil Service with the Navy Department in Washington, D. C., James Connolly Air Force Base in Waco, Smyrna Air Force Base in Tennessee, Polaris Missile Base in Goosecreek South, Carolina and in the Tellahoma, Tennessee Commissary Distribution Center, V A Hospitals in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Dallas and Waco, Texas. She also worked with Dr. Latham and Dr. Barton at the Whitney Hospital. On December 14, 1962, she married William Micajah Drinkard in Waco, TX. She loved her family and always stressed the importance of loving each other. She enjoyed playing bingo, fishing , her cats and dogs and all of her friends. She was a member of First Baptist Church in Whitney and the Eastern Star for over 50 years and lifetime member VFW Ladies Auxiliary. Preceding her in death were her husband, Bill Drinkard and two brothers, Leo Stevens and Thomas Stevens. Survivors include her children, Tommy Joe Nelson, Barbara Nelson Jones, Nancy Carroll Cooke, and Jeri Jean Carroll; grandsons, James Thomas Williams, Scott Nelson; granddaughters, Ami Knouff Turner, Melissa Williams Middlebrook; great grandchildren, Ashli Bourassa, Zorn Turner, J. C. McInroe and Cross Middlebrook.