Elizabeth (Betty) Wallis Hughes was born in Dallas, Texas on Christmas Eve, 1927. She passed away June 15, 2019 at the age of 91. She was a long time resident of San Antonio and Seguin, Texas. She was retired as Director of Education from the San Antonio Botanical Gardens and Biology Instructor from San Antonio College.
Betty was preceded in death by her daughter, Janet Lynne Hughes, her parents, Ruth and Eugene Wallis, her brother, James Wallis, her sister-in-law, Louise Wallis, and her son-in-law, Theo Cox.
Betty is survived by her children: Laura Cox, Steven Hughes and his wife, Diana, and Kathy Hutcheson and her husband, Scott. She is also survived by her grandchildren: Kimberly Weitkamp (Robin), Stephen Spradling (Lauri), Tammy Slowey, Jackie Hughes, Michael Hughes, Layne Hutcheson and Alyssa Sullivan (Trey). She also had 10 great grandchildren: Bryce, Tristen, Angel, Dulce, Maira, Amanda, Clayton, Austin, Jaxson, and Lizee. She recently met her great, great granddaughter, Blayke-Lee.
Betty lived a full life loving her family and friends and loving the great outdoors. She was an educator, volunteer and held various other jobs. Throughout her life, one constant thread remained. That thread was a passionate love for the outdoors, nature and specifically plant life. Elizabeth returned to college in her 50’s and earned her Bachelors of Science in Biology and her Masters of Science in Botany from Sul Ross State University. She returned from her beloved West Texas to start an entirely new career and became a valuable asset to The San Antonio Botanical Gardens, Native Plant Society of Texas, Guadalupe County Master Gardeners, Guadalupe County Master Naturalists, San Antonio College and countless other outlets to share her passion with others. She loved teaching and sharing that passion with others especially children, as they are the ones that will become stewards of this place long after we are all gone.
Betty will be dearly missed by all who were blessed enough to know and love her. She lives on in the many projects she was a part of developing including parks, gardens, trails, plant collections and research. This place is definitely more beautiful because Betty made sure it would be. Her family and friends feel exactly the same way…she left us more beautiful and better too.
If you wish to honor Betty, we recommend to plant a tree, frolic in the wildflowers, identify a bird, make something with your hands, take a nap, sleep under the stars, enjoy a roaring fire, read the newspaper front to back daily, ask lots of questions and learn something new each day. If you would like to give a gift, please consider The Guadalupe County Master Naturalists, The Seguin Art League, Last Chance Forever Birds of Prey Conservancy or The San Antonio Botanical Gardens Education Department.
An informal Memorial Gathering Open House will be held Saturday, August 10th from 1-3pm at the Hutcheson home. Details provided by emailing [email protected].
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