Elizabeth "Betty Jean" Henderson

The sweet loving spirit of Elizabeth Jeanette Henderson departed this earthly life on October 13, 2024. Betty Jean was born on December 22, 1930, in McDuffie County, GA. She was the eldest daughter of Thomas Watson and Willie Maude Whitaker Smith. Betty Jean grew up on the family farm during the depression and World War II years, graduating from Dearing High School and furthered her education at Bessie Tift College for Women. There, she related, she read her first House Beautiful magazine and fell in love with interior design. Prior to her college days, she had developed a propensity for cooking and sewing the latest fashions with the help of her mother and grandmother. With her flair for dressing impeccably, preparing delicious meals, caring for her boxwood garden and graciously entertaining in her home, she would hone her skills for decorating with antiques and beautiful fabrics over her entire lifetime. She treasured her “collections,” as she called them, even making notes of where and when she purchased or if she had been gifted an item and from whom. Betty Jean was the quintessential Southern lady. In 1952, she met her first husband Lynn Hammond Norman of Lincoln County on a blind date. After his service in the U.S. Navy, they moved from Norfolk, VA to Athens, GA where Lynn attended the University of Georgia and Betty Jean was a homemaker and a mother to their only child, Vicki. Upon Lynn’s completion of pharmacy school, they and their young daughter moved to Louisville, GA, making their home in a community they both loved and served in various capacities. At the age of 39, Lynn would succumb to colon cancer. Betty Jean would later marry Clarence Henderson who died after a lengthy illness in October 2022. She devotedly and faithfully loved both her husbands and demonstrated a strong faith in persevering through the hardships of their illnesses. For 30 years, Betty Jean worked for the Georgia Power Company as a Customer Service Representative. She would become known for her exemplary professionalism in the district and for her delightful Southern drawl when answering the telephone, and for her helping spirit to those who had difficulty paying their electricity bills. She was a long-time member of First Baptist Church serving in various ministries of the church. After her retirement, she especially enjoyed helping with the after-school Children’s Choir program. She had a servant’s heart helping others in times of grief and joy and extending hospitality to church members and the community at large. She deepened her faith and love for Christ when she became a devoted Bible student attending faithfully Bible Study Fellowship in Augusta. She also served energetically in the Louisville community alongside her husbands in any endeavor they pursued whether it was the local public school system or the Lions Club. Betty Jean was devoted to her family, caring for each of them with an intense love and desire to meet their every need whether large or small. She made herself available at a moment’s notice, always unconditionally giving of her resources of time and talents. No grandchild or great grandchild left GG’s home without either homemade chicken salad, pimento cheese or her famous cream cheese brownies. She leaves behind to mourn her passing, her daughter, Vicki (Tommy) Jones; two grandchildren, Kalisa (Akim) Staats, and Watson (Lauren) Jones; a step granddaughter, Leah Carwile; three great grandchildren, A.J. (Melissa) Vincelli, Holden (Mallory) Vincelli, and Will Vincelli; and two great-great grandchildren, Addison and Ford Vincelli; her sister, Gerry Fitzgerald; and a niece, Karen (David) Reville, and nephew, Tommy (Kristel) Fitzgerald. She also leaves behind two cherished friends, Eddie Williams and Willie Eva Davis, who worked alongside her in maintaining her lovely yards and home; and those that tenderly and devotedly cared for her as her health deteriorated over the past ten years, Mary Lou Johnson, Arlinda Wilson, Charlotte McBride, Liza Ann Gross, Hilary Sanders, Jameka Coleman, Melinda Harris, Tera Brooks, Peggy Hines, and Jeannette Cummings. The family gives thanks to Southeast Hospice for their professional care of Mrs. Henderson’s physical and spiritual well-being for the past two years, and to the staff of Thrive of Augusta for their support and care especially in the days after Hurricane Helene. Memorial donations may be made to the Music Ministry of First Baptist Church of Louisville, 101 East 9th Street, Louisville, GA 30434. A Private Family Graveside Service will be conducted Wednesday in the Louisville City Cemetery. The family will receive friends at the First Baptist Church of Louisville from 11:45 am to 1:00 pm.

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Elizabeth "Betty Jean" Henderson

December 22, 1930 - October 13, 2024