Anna Bess Kemper

Betsy was born on October 20, 1921, at her grandmother’s house in Derby, Texas. She was the daughter of Sidney Lionel Bennett and Martha Agnes DeVilbiss. She attended a two-room schoolhouse in Derby and graduated from Pearsall High School in Pearsall, Texas. She attended Mary Hardin-Baylor and graduated from Southwest Texas State Teachers College in San Marcos, Texas.

She met the love of her life and husband of 52 years, George A. Kemper, Jr., in the third grade. The two married on December 11, 1943, in Pearsall. George called her his “Brown-eyed Suzie.” After teaching for one year, she started her career as a mother and Air Force wife. Betsy moved her family 47 times during George’s 26-year military career, which included World War II, The Berlin Airlift, the Cuban Crisis in Bermuda, and Vietnam. The Kemper family came to Marble Falls in 1957 as summer campers. The family developed an R.V. park and campground on Backbone Creek called Kemper’s Korner in 1959 and built a home on the site in 1965.

Betsy was a longtime member of the First United Methodist Church. She was the great-granddaughter of John Wesley DeVilbiss, a Methodist circuit-riding preacher who helped establish the Methodist church in the Republic of Texas.

She was also a member of the Highland Lakes Porcelain Arts Guild. Betsy volunteered and helped feed those in need for more than 25 years through the Mission Outreach Ministry program at St. Frederick Baptist Church in Marble Falls. She and George received the Outstanding Citizen Award from the Marble Falls/Lake LBJ Chamber of Commerce in 1991.

Betsy was a loving and devoted wife, mother, sister, grandmother, great-grandmother and friend.

Her memory will be cherished by her brother John DeVilbiss Bennett; her sister-in-law JoAnnelle Bennett; her four children: George “Butch” Kemper and his wife Janice; Charles “Chuck” Kemper and his wife Cheri; Betsy Kemper; John Kemper and his wife Belinda; and her “adopted” son Rueben Rodriguez and his wife Ely. Betsy is also survived by her six granddaughters: Cynthia “Cindy” Foley and her husband Dennis; Elizabeth Kemper; Lindsay Plante and her husband David; Hanna Curran and her husband Edward; Kristin Morrison and her husband Jonathan; and Celeste Taylor and her husband Nathaniel; her five great-granddaughters: Taylor, Ella, Grace, Landry, and Camille; and one great-grandson, Ryan.

Betsy was preceded in death by her parents Sidney and Martha Bennett; her brothers: Sidney Lionel Bennett, Jr., and Harry Edward Bennett; and her husband George A. Kemper, Jr.

Visitation will be held Sunday, May 19, 2013, at Clements-Wilcox Funeral Home in Marble Falls from 5 until 7 p.m. The funeral will be held Monday, May 20, 2013, at 10 a.m. at First United Methodist Church in Marble Falls. Graveside services to follow in Pearsall.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Frederick Baptist Church Mission Outreach Ministry, P.O. Box 812, Marble Falls, TX 78654.

Condolences may be offered at www.clementswilcoxfuneralhome.com