Betty Asbill Anderson

Betty Asbill Anderson, 95, died peacefully at her home in Raleigh on March 31, 2025. She was born in Columbia, SC while her father, Clarence Monroe Asbill Jr. was an Engineering Professor at Clemson University and her mother, Benet Godfrey Asbill was a classical pianist and piano teacher. The family lived in New Orleans, Lagrange, Georgia, before eventually settling in Raleigh in 1946 where her father taught at the NCSU Textile School.

Betty majored in music at Agnes Scott College and took education courses at Union Presbyterian Seminary. Prior to her marriage, she taught kindergarten at Ravenscroft in Raleigh. In 1957, she married Raleigh native Andrew Vance Anderson Jr., and lived in the house they built in 1960 on White Oak Road for the next sixty-five years where they raised their three children. In 1980, Betty returned to teaching kindergarten at Aldert Root Elementary School in Raleigh where she worked until her retirement.

Betty was kind, intelligent, and talented, with a wry sense of humor. She loved to read, sing, and play piano. Music was a central part of her life, and she was a member of the White Memorial Presbyterian Church choir for several decades, often performing as a soprano soloist. Even when Betty felt she could no longer sing as well as she wanted to, she continued to volunteer as the church music librarian until the interruption of COVID. She was also a great lover of nature who knew the names of all the trees and flowers in her neighborhood and in her yard, which she planted with many azalea and camellia bushes.

Even as her mobility declined, she loved going out for walks. She loved animals from the cocker spaniel she had as a child to the many cats and dogs the family had over the years and the deer and many birds that made her yard their home. And Betty was a proud mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother who, as a teacher, encouraged her descendants in their educational and musical accomplishments.

Betty is survived by her daughter, Cissy Anderson Beckert of Brookhaven, GA and husband Bruce Beckert, her son David Asbill Anderson of Raleigh, her grandson, Michael Beckert, wife, Brooke Beckert, and great-grandchildren Sami and Micah Beckert of Atlanta, GA, her granddaughter, Caroline Malaspina, husband Peter Malaspina, and great-granddaughter Ava Malaspina, of Cambridge, MA, as well as nieces and nephews, Catherine Asbill Kelly, William Asbill, Benet Asbill Maher, John Anderson, Jr., Harriet Anderson Gayle, and her last feline companion, Cole.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Vance Anderson, Jr., her son, Vance Anderson III, her brother, Clarence Monroe Asbill III, and her beloved calico cat, Chloe.

The family also wishes to acknowledge her friends and neighbors Tracy Traer, Cindy Landvater, Theresa Jeffers, Joan Johnston, Betsy Hinton, and Lolly Norris for their many years of companionship and support.

For those wishing to do so, we invite donations in her name to Raleigh’s SAFE Haven for Cats or The Nature Conservancy.

Betty was laid to rest on April 22, 2025 in Oakwood Cemetery, 701 Oakwood Ave, Raleigh, NC 27601. Following the committal, a service of Witness to the Resurrection was held on April 22, 2025 at White Memorial Presbyterian Church, 1704 Oberlin Road, Raleigh, NC 27608. The family received immediately after the service in the Jane Bell Gathering space.

Brown-Wynne, 300 Saint Mary's Street, Raleigh is serving the Anderson family.