Betty Hamby

I remember being so excited when I learned to count to twelve. That meant that I was big enough to sit with the ladies and play skip-bo. Grandma would let us kids play cards with her and her friends, even if there weren't enough chairs at the table. She always made room for us. If we weren't playing cards, her and grandpa were at the bowling alley and me and Shelly played in the daycare. We grew up at grandmas house. I would spend every summer vacation and school break at their house. Not only did I learn to fish with grandpa, i learned to cook from grandma. She was an amazing cook. No matter what the meal was, it was always special because grandma made it for us. I have taken some of her recipes and began cooking larger batches for the school. When a teacher or a child tells me that lunch was good.. I always tell them, that was my grandmas recipe, I grew up eating this. My oldest son, her great grandson has learned to make some of her recipes to. It makes him proud to be able to say... this was grandmas recipe. I always knew that I was loved, and that I was her favorite grandchild, even if I wasn't. She made us all feel like the favorite. The love that she showed to her husband, her children, her grandchildren, her great grandchildren, and now the great great granddaughters was a love that none of us had ever felt before. Grandma was the best person I knew, and I would like to think that the good inside of me is all because of her. She was amazing.

Our friendship with Betty has been in the last few years, but we feel like we have known her all of our lives. She lived across the street from where we did a Sunday School ministry with children in her area. We first met her when she showed up at our door one morning with a loaf of banana bread and Amish friendship bread. Her banana nut bread couldn't be beat! After our first encounter with Betty we developed a friendship with her and would visit her on Sundays after meeting with the children. She was such a good listener and encourager and always made us feel better. She watched our ministry house during the week and would let us know if something was wrong. We would sometimes take some of the kids to visit her and they loved all of her animated dolls and animals. She always had candy to give them and had orange slices for Ken. After her moving back to Bristow we weren't able to visit her as often, but kept up with her life and she ours through phone calls. We were so glad that we had visited her a few days before her death. There will definitely be a void in our lives because of her absence. We will truly miss her.

My Grandma from the age of 3 gave me the love of playing cards. I don't think it was the love of the game that made playing important it was the fun of hanging out and spending quality time with her. She was funny and at the same time ready to kick some butt even if we were her grandbabies. I would love visiting during the holidays because the house was always decorated with Christmas decorations and we'd go through every single one and the joy on her face was always amazing. I would never leave her house hungry she was a mean cook. I would laugh at her cussing the television out when those ball players goofed! Even more she lead me to believe in myself.

We are so sorry to hear about Betty. Our sincerest sympathies to everyone. Love, John and Margaret Briscoe

Betty was a very special lady. I've missed seeing her in the lobby at the Health Center these last couple of weeks. How she loved to play Skip-Bo and Dominoes. She was good at it too! I spoke with Betty last Monday morning. She was upbeat and smiling even though she was in bed and you could tell she didn't feel good. How she loved her family. She was always talking about you and showing me the things that you had brought her. We won't be able to attend Betty's services as Roy is ill. You are in our thoughts and prayers. I'll miss Betty. I loved her too! With Love, Caroly and Roy