1927
Betty
2016
Betty Robins
November 24, 1927 — December 2, 2016
Betty J. Robins passed away Friday, December 2, 2016 at Garden Terrace where the staff cared for her during the final stages of Alzheimer’s.
Betty Jean Clary was born in 1927 in Gaffney, S.C. to Flora Lou Smith and Guy Clary, both from large families. Betty reveled being the center of attention of seventeen aunts and uncles and enjoyed all the cousins that followed. She reminisced about growing up part of a large family the rest of her life.
After the early death of her father, her mother married C.B. Hawkins, whose trade was construction. As a family they lived in nine towns in the space of ten years. Betty graduated from Gaffney High in 1945.
Betty moved to Washington DC after graduation, working in business until she married Guy M Queen of Gaffney in 1949; shortly after that they moved to Kansas City and had a son, Frank, in October, 1951. It was in the hospital giving birth to Frank she met Carolyn Abraham, giving birth to a son, Tom, who would be her best friend for life. Betty married Douglas D. Robins of Grundy Center, I.A. in 1957, with whom she shared the next twelve years.
Betty worked at the Darby Corporation upon arriving in Kansas City, later at Kansas City Power and Light as a key punch operator in the fifties and early Sixties, famously appearing on TV in 1952 during the presidential election when she worked for the Statistical Tabulating Co and was captured on election night key punching away.
She taught Sunday School for many years in the Baptist church, enriching the lives of countless children. For decades she devoted herself to Church, Family and Friends, with an abundant and zany sense of humor. If you needed a friend – there was Betty; cheering up – there was Betty. If you needed an adult’s advice – yes, there was Betty.
She moved to Atlanta in the Seventies and reinvented herself in retail at the famous Rich’s Department Stores. She was a supervisor in Training, Credit, Customer Service until retiring in 1993 and returning to Kansas City with her mother to be close to her son, Frank, and his wife, Adrienne. There exists a video of her retirement party. It’s a hoot. She maintained a correspondence with friends and former co-workers from her time in Atlanta and even to some with whom she worked at Darby and KCPL all those years ago.
Her real success throughout her life were the children and people whose lives she impacted with her integrity, love, courage, and the conviction that no matter how difficult the challenge, one could succeed.
If you wish to honor Betty, please make a donation to your local Alzheimer’s Association.
And if you ever play Scrabble, try to play all your letters to get the fifty extra points. She was competitive in everything, even games.
Finally, a word to her cousin Bill Wilson of Greenville S.C., who is ‘eighty-damn-four’ this year. “Bill, the 1945 school year when Betty lived with you and your parents, Ann and Woodrow, so she could graduate with her friends while Flora and C.B. were on a job outside Gaffney was a special time for her and fostered a lifelong love and regard for you and your family beyond my ability to express in words. She enjoyed the Atlanta years when you and the rest of the family were just a couple hours away.”
Betty Jean Clary was born in 1927 in Gaffney, S.C. to Flora Lou Smith and Guy Clary, both from large families. Betty reveled being the center of attention of seventeen aunts and uncles and enjoyed all the cousins that followed. She reminisced about growing up part of a large family the rest of her life.
After the early death of her father, her mother married C.B. Hawkins, whose trade was construction. As a family they lived in nine towns in the space of ten years. Betty graduated from Gaffney High in 1945.
Betty moved to Washington DC after graduation, working in business until she married Guy M Queen of Gaffney in 1949; shortly after that they moved to Kansas City and had a son, Frank, in October, 1951. It was in the hospital giving birth to Frank she met Carolyn Abraham, giving birth to a son, Tom, who would be her best friend for life. Betty married Douglas D. Robins of Grundy Center, I.A. in 1957, with whom she shared the next twelve years.
Betty worked at the Darby Corporation upon arriving in Kansas City, later at Kansas City Power and Light as a key punch operator in the fifties and early Sixties, famously appearing on TV in 1952 during the presidential election when she worked for the Statistical Tabulating Co and was captured on election night key punching away.
She taught Sunday School for many years in the Baptist church, enriching the lives of countless children. For decades she devoted herself to Church, Family and Friends, with an abundant and zany sense of humor. If you needed a friend – there was Betty; cheering up – there was Betty. If you needed an adult’s advice – yes, there was Betty.
She moved to Atlanta in the Seventies and reinvented herself in retail at the famous Rich’s Department Stores. She was a supervisor in Training, Credit, Customer Service until retiring in 1993 and returning to Kansas City with her mother to be close to her son, Frank, and his wife, Adrienne. There exists a video of her retirement party. It’s a hoot. She maintained a correspondence with friends and former co-workers from her time in Atlanta and even to some with whom she worked at Darby and KCPL all those years ago.
Her real success throughout her life were the children and people whose lives she impacted with her integrity, love, courage, and the conviction that no matter how difficult the challenge, one could succeed.
If you wish to honor Betty, please make a donation to your local Alzheimer’s Association.
And if you ever play Scrabble, try to play all your letters to get the fifty extra points. She was competitive in everything, even games.
Finally, a word to her cousin Bill Wilson of Greenville S.C., who is ‘eighty-damn-four’ this year. “Bill, the 1945 school year when Betty lived with you and your parents, Ann and Woodrow, so she could graduate with her friends while Flora and C.B. were on a job outside Gaffney was a special time for her and fostered a lifelong love and regard for you and your family beyond my ability to express in words. She enjoyed the Atlanta years when you and the rest of the family were just a couple hours away.”
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