Rebecca Coffee Ethridge

Becky Coffee had an idyllic upbringing and cherished her school years in Savannah and Americus, GA, maintaining many valued friendships over the years. Her natural Southern charm and grace led to being chosen for leadership in many clubs and her sorority and for the title of Miss Georgia Southwestern College in 1959.

Married on August 6, 1960 to William Russell Ethridge, her beloved husband of 57 years, she completed her education at the University of Georgia, and after moving to Greensboro, NC, from Atlanta, nurtured hundreds of children and their families as a preschool director and teacher. She was always delighted to see them years later, share happy memories and learn of new accomplishments.

A wonderful, godly mother and grandmother, she loved to laugh and, together with Billy, she gifted her admiring daughter and granddaughter with a sense of humor that has both entertained and served them well for all of life’s challenges. Becky knew what it was to let her light shine, and we will gratefully remember her bright smile and her comforting, deep Georgia drawl every day. Ever joyful and gracious, she was a dear friend, her family’s biggest fan and cheerleader, an absolute angel in caring for her mother and father, and a great and loving support to Billy in his graphic design business and in life. They were inseparable.

She was approachable to all, sweet, sincere, genuine, inspiring acts of kindness from loved ones and those in the community alike. She leaves a terribly sad but extremely grateful family who will always treasure her just as she treasured us.

Becky passed peacefully with her family by her side. We are comforted to know that she has joined her devoted parents, Bee and Al Coffee, and adoring husband, Billy, whom she greatly missed every day since December 17, 2017. Now left to greatly miss her are her faithful daughter and loved son-in-law, Kim and Ted Wendt, and precious granddaughter, Callie Wendt, who was truly the light of her life. Along with many good friends and family who were blessings to her, she also leaves her sweet cousin, Barbara Barker Miller of Katy, TX, and dear lifelong friend, Barbara Ann Tye of Raleigh, NC, both of whom remained especially close for over 80 years, as well as Billy’s caring sister, Bettye Dearman and family.

In lieu of flowers, our family would like to encourage you to take the time to enjoy an ice cream with friends or loved ones (Becky would highly suggest her favorite flavor, coffee). It is those precious moments together that were most cherished by her and will be most missed by those she leaves behind. If you so choose to honor her with a donation, she believed strongly in the work of Samaritan’s Purse.

When the Lord blessed her with the strength and resilience to recover from several serious illnesses, Becky relied on this favorite passage from His Word, which she would be pleased to share with you:

He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

– Isaiah 40:29-31