Betty Lane Milton

Dallas, Frisco and the Trinity Christian Academy (TCA) community have lost a beloved member and faithful servant. Betty Milton, a dear friend, beloved mother and grandmother, tireless servant, TCA alumni parent and long-time TCA employee, went home to be with the Lord on Sunday, October 9. Her husband of 56 years, Earl D. Milton, went home to the Lord the morning of October 10, only nine hours and 25 minutes after her passing, both passing of natural causes. They were truly one (“For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one.” Mark 10: 7-8).

Known as the founder of TCA's library, Betty spent countless hours, first as a volunteer then an employee, organizing book lists, assembling books and supplies and establishing TCA's first library. For 35 years, Betty poured her heart into TCA and its libraries. She started with a single set of donated World Book Encyclopedias and grew it to three separate libraries now housing over 50,000 books and research materials. A former headmaster once asked her when the TCA Library would be finished. "Never!" said Betty. She retired from TCA in 2007.

Betty loved being a Grandmother. She and Earl lived with Randy & Laura Milton, their three children Daniel (17), Michael (13) and Rachel (11), since 2005. She would still cook dinner for the entire family, and was teaching Rachel all about cooking from scratch – something Rachel loves to do. True to her librarian roots, she loved to read and continued to do so until she could no longer do so. She would read to her grandchildren, when they would sit still enough to listen, a favorite pastime of hers. During her last few weeks, the grandchildren were reading Dewey to her, the adventures of a library cat. Anyone who knew Betty knew that she loved cats and the library, and the story touched her dearly. Family and friends were also reading Heaven is for Real to her, and she loved it. The tables had turned, and the giver was now the receiver, receiving care and love she had so freely given.

Betty and Earl together served at Stonebriar Community Church until recently, where you could see them on Sunday morning, greeting everyone who entered at the west doors of the building. Occasionally, the wind would be so strong that it pushed the door closed, and scooted Betty along with it, but she and Earl always met you with a smile.

After TCA, Betty continued to serve the Lord with her librarian skills and knowledge, consulting and giving of herself at both Stonebriar Community Church and Providence Christian School. She loved being a librarian, and was certainly a pioneer. This was her true calling.

Betty was born in New Orleans, but was raised all over the south. Eventually, they settled in Natchez, Mississippi, a place Betty loved. Her mother was one of the pioneers as a nurse anesthetist and her father, a candy salesman (yes, the children loved this) is in the Candy Salesmen Hall of Fame. Betty graduated from Mississippi State College for Women (MSCW), later Mississippi University for Women (MUW), with a Masters of Library Science. She went to work in the Brooklyn Public Library in New York. It was there that she met her love, Earl Milton, a Texan on Wall Street. Soon after they met, they started dating and very soon after that, Earl was offered a position in Dallas with Campbell Henderson and Company as an Investment Counselor. They married on December 27, 1955, in Natchez, Mississippi so that they could be with each other in Dallas. Their honeymoon was spent traveling back to New York to then move to Dallas, where they resided since early 1956.

Betty worked in Dallas with the Dallas Public Library and very soon headed up the newly developed Bookmobile service, helping to design the interior and the routes. The bookmobiles went to outlying neighborhoods. Wherever they received lots of activity is where a branch library would eventually be built. While pregnant with Randy, she was even in a parade celebrating the bookmobile service. She even carried a commercial driver’s license so that she could drive a bookmobile, although she rarely had to do so. She retired from Dallas Public Library to become a full time mother, returning to her library roots when she joined TCA.

Betty touched many lives wherever she was, and many of you have stories and memories of her. If you would like to add your message or tribute to her, we have set up a page on the TCA website where you may share those stories and memories. Please click here to do so.

Betty is survived by two children, Randy Milton and wife Laura, their three children Daniel, Michael and Rachel, and Laurel Milton Chooljian and husband Andrew, and numerous nieces and nephews. Her brother, Bill Blankenship, and her parents C. Lane and Pearl McIntosh preceded Betty in death and she joins them in the Lord.

In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made to Trinity Christian Academy

Please make checks payable to Trinity Christian Academy and designate on the check or with a written note: “In Memory of Betty Milton for Upper School Library” or “In Memory of Betty Milton for Student Tuition Aid” and mail to: Trinity Christian Academy

Office of Development

17001 Addison Road

Addison, Texas 75001

OR

DFW Honor Flight, an organization honoring veterans, via their website at http://honorflightdfw.org/donations