Betty Jane Stewart passed away on December 18, 2020 at Jackson Madison County General Hospital after a short illness from Covid-19.
A graveside service will be held on Tuesday, January 12, 2021 at 1:00 PM at Hollywood Cemetery, in Jackson, TN in the family plot with Dr. John White officiating.
Betty was worn in Corinth, MS to the late Alpha Peck Kinzie Stewart and Wyatt A. Stewart, Jr. on August 23, 1936. She attended public schools in Memphis, TN and graduated from Central High School and graduated from Lambuth College in 1958, where she was a member of Alpha Omicron Pi Sorority. After earning her master’s degree in Social Work from Tulane University she worked for twenty-years in Philadelphia, PA for the largest private social welfare agency in the city, attaining the position of Assistant Director.
She relocated to the Washington, DC area to be close to her brother and his family. Shortly after arriving, she received a Presidential appointment by Ronald Reagan to serve as Assistant Secretary of Child and Family Services in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Betty retired from the department and federal service and returned to Jackson, TN where she continued to serve individuals and families in need of counseling and assistance. Her many years of exemplary service were recognized by Lambuth College prior to the college’s association with the University of Memphis. Lambuth selected her as Alumni of the Year in 1990.
Betty was a faithful and active member of the First Presbyterian Church of Jackson.
She is survived by her brother, Wyatt, A. Stewart III and wife Renee of Bethesda, MD and her half-sister, Amy Stewart Moore and husband David of Booneville, MS, as well as numerous nieces and nephews and their children and her much loved dog, Gina.
Betty was preceded by an older sister, Ann Arrington Stewart.
The family is requesting that memorial contribution be made in honor of Betty J. Stewart to the University of Memphis-Lambuth, 705 Lambuth Blvd., Jackson, TN 38301.
Arrington Funeral Directors, 148 W. University Parkway, 668.1111
www.arringtonfuneralgroup.com