Saturday, January 14, 2012

A few photos found of Betty Ruth Doak Lindsey

This photo is supposedly of her with her parents Everett and Mary Doak.  The other is with her Uncle Arthur Doak and one with her sister Lois.  Please correct me if I am wrong.  This is just an assumption as found in
"The Book".




                                         

Alexander Doak's granddaughter Betty Ruth Doak Lindsey passes at age 90.

Although we grew up a nation apart Betty Ruth has become a dear friend.  We have visited her in her home in Wilmington, Delaware on one occasion and then at her home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  My main purpose in visiting with relatives is to learn more about family history which I am very passionate about. She has visited on the phone at length to give me much of my knowledge of her father Uncle Everett and her grandfather Alexander Arthur Doak. To me Betty Ruth has the heart of a teacher.  She has a way of teaching you things you do not know. A couple of coincidences I will mention:  She has a son named John Jay Lindsey and I have a son named Jonathan Jay Lindsey. (Her son is deceased but her daughter- in law was kind enough to share with us her memorial service from which I will extract some of my favorite parts.) I have an older friend we visited and stayed the night there who lived in a nice retirement home in Hockessin,  Delaware which was the exact home Betty Ruth told me she had wanted to get into. She ended up in a retirement home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania which is a lovely part of the state and home of the Amish who ride in buggies, farm with horses and have no electricity.

Obituary Betty Ruth Doak Lindsey

Of Willow Valley Retirement Community, in Lancaster, Pa., passed away after a lengthy illness on November 30, 2011, at the age of 90.

Betty Ruth was born in New Jersey and grew up in Tyler County, West Virginia, where she held her first teaching position as the district music teacher.  She and her husband John raised their family in Wilmington, Delaware, where he was a DuPont employee.  Mrs. Lindsey graduated from West Liberty Teacher's College in West Virginia and the University of Delaware, where she also received her Master's Degree in Special Education.  Mrs. Lindsey taught 4th Grade and Special Education at Brandywood Elementary School in Wilmington, Delaware.  Betty Ruth had a great love of singing and classical music, and performed as a soloist, choir member, junior choir director and piano teacher, before retirement.  She and her husband, John moved to Willow Valley Retirement Community in 1998, where they made many dear friends.

Betty Ruth was predeceased by her son, John Jay Lindsey and her husband of 62 years, John B. Lindsey.  She is survived by her sisters, Mary Janice Neprash of Atlanta, Ga. and Lois Faunce, of Warminster, Pa.; her children Carol Davidson, of Wilmington, DE; Ruth Lindsey of Kapaau, HI and Bill Lindsey of Montara, CA.  She is survived by 11 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren.

Excepts from the sermon:
"Beloved musician, friend, mother, grandmother.  This time and place are made sacred by our need to remember one so beloved who has left our midst."
"For Betty Ruth, teaching and performing gave her a passionate connection to life, and helped her to connect with others through a medium that touches the soul.  Music is the language of love and the language of faith; in fact "Music is love in search of a word."
"We give thanks for Betty Ruth's musical and loving spirit and for the legacy of caring she leaves in this world.  We give thanks for the light of love that persists through death and lives in human hearts."
"In the mystery that is life, let us hold fast to Love, Love which is conquered and stronger than death, which carries us to the eternal.  Love which continues in our hearts so that Betty Ruth will remain alive in us as we remember her and honor her.  Love is of God, for God is love."
"There are wonderful stories of a woman who loved life, loved music and loved to laugh. I learned of a woman who despite Polio of her  youth managed to share her love of music, even if she had to cross a swinging bridge in the wilds of West Virginia to teach her young pupils.  I learned of a loving marriage of 62 years to a man who spoiled her rotten, but with good reason it sounds to me."
"Let us rest in the knowledge that the veil has been removed.  Betty Ruth can finally know truth, and she can see God, face to face."
Love is eternal.