Betty was born on August 18, 1938, in Lone Star, Mississippi, to Grover and Eva Kelly. She grew up in Lone Star, with her three sisters and one brother working on the family’s farmland and crops, where she developed a lifelong dedication to hard work. Her childhood was an impressionable time in her life, which she recalled fondly. She would say “we had it rough sometimes, but we had love and that’s all that matters.” That hard work laid a foundation of strength, endurance and perseverance in her character and she channeled that throughout her life.
She attended primary school and graduated from Lone Star High School in 1955 as Valedictorian of her class. She had a love for math and was a whiz with numbers. She could add, subtract, and multiply in her head faster than most people could with a calculator. She had a love for sports too. She played basketball throughout high school and was awarded MVP of the team most of those years. She loved sports of all kinds. Later in life she especially loved football and was a lifelong New Orleans Saints fan.
After graduating from high school, she moved to New Orleans with her sister and went to work for South Central Bell as a telephone operator. Within a year she met and married her husband, Richard, who was serving in the United States Coast Guard at the time. After his service in Alaska ended in 1956, Richard chose not to reenlist but instead to start building their life together and start a family. They owned and operated United Auto Supply together for many years. Richard later went on to become a police officer and remained in law enforcement until his death in 2004.
While she enjoyed many things, she was always a gardener at heart. She loved working outdoors. She took pride in her flower gardens and especially loved her roses, iris, and lilies. There was nothing she couldn’t plant and grow. Her other hobbies included playing cards and collecting rocks from the many states where she vacationed with her sisters on their girls’ trips. She had a knowledge and love for fishing which she shared with her husband, children, and grandchildren. There were so many good times shared at their fishing camp down the bayou in Port Sulphur, Louisiana. She knew those waterways and cuts like the back of her hand and most likely would out fish you too. As one of her grandchildren said, “she taught me everything I know about fishing down there." As she got older, she adored spending time with her great grandchildren; she affectionately called them “her babies” or “the little ones.” She loved playing with them, whether on the floor with toys or outside playing in the dirt building hills and construction sites.
She was a devoted daughter, sister, wife, mother, and grandmother. Betty is survived by her daughter Jean Heintz and son-in-law Brett Heintz; grandchildren: KC Hill (Heidi), Jaime Waguespack (Jonathan), Brandon Hill (Laura), Chad Malinak (Meredith), Marcelle Folse (Michelle), Michael Folse (Thomas), Jared Folse, Joshua Adams, Lauren Kospelich (Russell); great grandchildren: Ashleigh Doucet (Conner), Colin Hill, Kathleen, Scarlett, Elizabeth and Violet Hill, Grace, Landry and Brigid Malinak, Liam Schuckman, Rylee Adams, Russell and Royce Kospelich; great-great grandchildren: Gryffin and Beckham Doucet; as well as beloved cousins, nieces, nephews, and dear friends. She is preceded in death by her parents, Grover and Eva Hawsey Kelly; her siblings, John Kelly, Mary “Lucille” Griffith, Geneva Pyle, and Sarah Burnett; her husband, Richard W. Folse; and children Kathleen “Kathy” Hill and Richard “Ricky” Folse.
Family and friends are welcomed and invited to attend the Memorial Visitation at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, 3643 Aurora Drive, Algiers, Lousiana, on Saturday, February 11, 2023, from 9AM to 11AM, with the Memorial Services beginning at 11AM. Interment will be privately held at a later date.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.WestsideLeitzEagan.com for the Folse family.
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