Mrs. Bettye Bettye Boop Jean Stanley Fuller

Bettye Stanley Fuller, age 82, of Marietta, Georgia, quietly passed away at home with her husband by her side on Thursday, January 6, 2011. She is survived by her faithful and loving husband of 64 years, Richard Fuller, Jr., son Richard Fuller III , daughters Susan Fuller Smith and Kathryn Anne Fuller, and son Alan Carl Fuller; granddaughters Kristen Michelle Fuller Rossi, Caroline Sellers Fuller, and Margaret Anne Fuller; grandson Richard Benjamin Fuller; great-grandsons William Fuller Rossi and Alan Christopher Rossi; sisters Mary Stanley Dupuy and Barbara Stanley McVoy. Bettye was preceded by her parents Annie McDavid Allen Stanley and Lucius C. Stanley, brothers Thomas Franklin Stanley, Lucius Clay Stanley, and Clinton Allen Stanley. A funeral service will be held Thursday, January 13, 2011, at 11:30 am at H.M. Patterson & Son Canton Hill. The family will receive friends Thursday, January 13, 2011, from 9:30 am to 11:30 am before the service. Interment will follow at Georgia National Cemetery. Bettye will be greatly missed by all her family and friends who loved and cherished her dearly. She will always be a loving presence in their lives forever. In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to Mt. Bethel Methodist Church or the Georgia Tech Foundation, Inc. H.M. Patterson & Son Canton Hill is honored to be serving the family of Mrs. Fuller. Online condolences may be expressed at www.hmpattersoncantonhill.com.

H.M. Patterson & Son, Canton Hill Chapel is honored to be serving the family of Mrs. Bettye Fuller.

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March 4, 2011

Everything happened so quickly with mom, from her leaving us so soon to dealing with all the awful details we had to take care of and plan. We didn’t really get a chance to write the true obituary for such an incredible woman. You know all the particulars of Bettye’s birth and family members, but you don’t really know the true Bettye that we did and what an incredible woman she truly was.

Dick and Bettye were married for an incredible 64 years. As with any marriage there were ups and downs, but they were always there for each other in every way. After meeting at the USO in Pensacola during World War II, 17 year old Bettye married Dick, a young ensign naval aviator. A few months later, Dick was sent to Guam and Bettye, then pregnant with their first child, stayed in Pensacola with her mother. When their baby was 9 months old, Bettye left the only city she had ever known, Pensacola, and traveled with her 9 month old baby to Guam…a place she had probably never even heard of before Dick was transferred there…and her life was never the same again.

Bettye became the consummate Navy wife, always supporting Dick in every way he needed for the next 28 years and 36 moves. Bettye never complained through the early absences when Dick was transferred or flying, always handling the moving and unpacking and any problems that arose, more often than not with young children underfoot.

Bettye was the “always there” mother to their four children, taking care of whatever place they called home and never ever neglecting her children…she was the supreme mother “tiger”…always protecting her children no matter the cost to her. Even after her four children were grown and had left the nest and she and Dick had time to be alone for the first time in many, many years, she took in her first granddaughter at nine years old without any reservations at all. She became so much more than a granddaughter to Bettye and Dick…she became another daughter for them to love and cherish. How extremely proud she was when each of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren were born and came into her life...she was so enamored of each and every one of them and they probably had no idea how much they all meant to her! They all will probably never realize how very proud Bettye was of each of them, and how very much she loved and cherished and adored them. How very fortunate we were to have been able to call Bettye "mom" and "grandmother" and "Bettye Boop" for all those years!

After Dick retired from the Navy, he went on to a 25-year career at The Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Once again, Bettye became the consummate hostess for all the functions they would attend over his years there. Bettye never met a stranger. Dick always said he would hide in the kitchen with the cooks and Bettye would be in the thick of things, meeting and greeting and charming people in a way no one else could. What an incredible asset Bettye was to Dick during their 64 years together.

Bettye was the strongest woman any of has ever known and will know. She will be missed in more ways that anyone will comprehend. Dad now always tells people to make sure they kiss their wife or husband goodnight each and every night and tell them how much you love them, because at the end of the day love is what matters most in life. She will always be a presence in our lives and our hearts…forever!

Kristen Fuller Rossi, Bettye's granddaughter and special daughter, wrote a poem and read it at her service, and Caroline Fuller (Alan's daughter) read the scripture at the end of the poem. I thought each of you would like to read it.

Petite of frame and Strong of Heart

Heart life pre-destined from the start

She'd swim in the hole down at ole Bent Lane,

After one night at the USO, her life would never be the same.

He in Navy White, She in a dress

A sixty-four year love story tells the rest...

...the children arrived, one by one

a Navy wife and mother with her daughters and son.

Picture a black and white photo of a little girl

staring up at her mommy

whom, to her, meant the world.

Then, to silent home movies, show a dancing little doll hamming it up for the camera

with her mommy; she has a ball.

And, finally, her baby boy,

with those mirrored blue eyes

he brought her sweet joy.

She was the consummate Navy wife

from stately dinners to dinners at home...

Apart and together, they made a life.

Marriage via love letters, photos and the occasional leave

Show strength as a woman, and their love, I believe.

Then, settling down in their post-navy days

spending time as a family in a Georgia Tech maze.

There was no one finer at having a ball

when it came to those social functions,

she was the belle of them all.

I recall fondly those Sundays in Indian Hills

her grown kids gathered around her apron again,

for, Bettye's spaghetti was an irresistible thrill.

Our Bettye Boop, for these you could fully count on the paper, the mail, and All My Children

Challenge her at Bridge,

be on your game

you'd have more fun than cards,

certainly not a shame.

Her Grandkids came along

with quite some spacing,

All girls and a boy those blue eyes interlacing

With "Jesus Loves Me" whispered in my ear,

and the creak of that ole rocker, she took away a little girl’s fears...

Her "Bettyisms" span all generations,

all the way down to her great-grandsons...

"Now go put something on those feet," she'd always say

and, I am never barefoot, even to this day.

"Everything happens for a reason," she'd explain

and "two wrongs don't make a right." in the very same vein.

Her life was a silhouette upon a canvass of family

quietly shaping us for what life without her would be.

However, like the brightest sun on a cloudy day

We know our "Mom" is with us

even though she gone away.

Bettye lives on in each one of us

her beacon of light shines bright with no fuss

To the woman who taught us the art of

"thank you"

there's not enough paper in the world for one

from us to you...

Dear sweet Boop in your blue chair in the sky

with your doggies gathered 'round you

and your leg flung over the side.

Our hearts ache to hug you

just one more time.

So we draw on our faith

to ease our minds

For we know the remarkable Holiness

who holds you now

And we know you will live on freely

somehow.

We rejoice for you

and your everlasting life,

You have carried us all,

Mother and Wife

Bettye Jean Stanley Fuller

June 30, 1928 - January 6, 2011

Written and read at Bettye’s Service by Kristen Fuller Rossi, January 13, 2011

1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going." 5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" 6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14: 1-6

Bible Verse Read at Bettye’s Service by Caroline Sellers Fuller, granddaughter