Born in Holcomb, Kansas on December 6, l922, and raised in nearby Garden City, Mrs. Atkinson—who was known to family and friends as Bette-- was the youngest of three daughters born to John and Eva Baker Sharer. As a youth, Mrs. Atkinson was a talented musician and an accomplished flautist by age 12. She attended and graduated from Garden City High School and Garden City Junior College; then matriculated at Northwestern University, where she was a member of the band and Chi Omega Sorority, and graduated with a degree in music education.
On August 12, 1944, she married Richard H. Atkinson, a lieutenant in the US Air Force, and set out on the exciting and challenging life of a military wife—with stops in Sacramento, California, Fort Nelson, British Columbia, Tacoma, Washington, Montgomery, Alabama, Honolulu, Hawaii, San Antonio, Texas, Manila, Philippines and Norfolk, Virginia. In l975, she and Richard, then a full colonel in the USAF, returned to San Antonio for retirement.
Bette Atkinson was an active member of PEO Sisterhood and AFS, the international student exchange program. She was an avid bridge player and for a time, headed a bridge club in San Antonio. She is remembered fondly by family and her many friends as a happy, optimistic soul who rarely complained and always had a kind, supportive word to say.
She is survived by daughter Judy Fullen of Austin; son, Jim Atkinson and daughter-in-law Ann Atkinson of Santa Fe, NM; granddaughter, Robin Lopez and grandson-in-law CJ Lopez, and great grandson, Ryan Lopez, all of Austin. In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully requests donations be made to the P.E.O. Foundation (https://donations.peointernational.org/peo-donation-foundation).
