Betty Jean Scott Stocker

Betty Jean Scott Stocker, 86, of Kenansville, NC passed away peacefully at home in the care of her family on December 22, 2023, the eve of her wedding anniversary (December 23, 1959). We are sure there was a joyous welcoming celebration as Betty was reunited with her husband James in heaven!

Betty was born on March 15, 1937 in Coalmont, TN to Alfred and Margie Scott. She was the fifth child, the exact middle, of their nine children. She grew up on Signal Mountain, TN where most of her family still reside.

She met her husband of 60 years, James Stocker, while attending Sequatchie County High School in Dunlap, TN. After completing high school in 1955, she became the first of her family to attend college. She worked as a waitress while studying, and in 1957, she received an associates degree from Montreat College in Black Mountain, NC. After graduation, she worked as a secretary in an insurance agency in Chattanooga, TN until her first son Michael was born in 1962. Her husband worked for Central Soya Master Mix and was transferred to Orangeburg, SC where her daughter Myra was born in 1963. They then transferred to Charlotte, NC where Jim managed the feed account for Wendell Murphy. The family settled in Duplin County, NC in 1973 when he accepted an employment opportunity with Murphy Farms. Betty and James welcomed their youngest son Miles in 1976.
Betty excelled in absolutely everything she attempted. In her school years, she played basketball. Later, she bowled in several leagues – earning many engraved silver platter bowling awards. She also became an avid golfer – winning multiple Duplin Country Club championships and other golf tournaments in eastern NC. She was an excellent seamstress – creating most of her children’s clothing, several hand-embroidered quilts, wall hangings, and Christmas ornaments. She loved gardening and growing fruits and vegetables which she seasonally canned and were enjoyed by all the family at her nightly home-cooked meals. She was an excellent baker – making many varieties of cookies, pound cakes, and lemon meringue and blueberry bavarian pies. All of her friends and family relished her homemade peanut brittle in the Christmas season. Her home was always filled with beautiful houseplants including Christmas cacti, orchids, ferns, philodendrons, and any plant that she could cultivate from a cutting. She definitely had a green thumb and enjoyed creating from nature which could be seen in the multiple grapevine and pine cone wreaths, door swags, candle rings, and floral arrangements she created through the years. All of her children attended Harrells Christian Academy, and she never hesitated to volunteer – including preparing items for the school’s annual bazaar fundraiser. She enjoyed organizing her community members and sharing her knowledge – teaching each how to make all the crafts and baked goods to be sold. She assembled, painted, sewed, decorated, fashioned, baked, and had the best instant hot chocolate recipe. When her grandson was born she was one of the absolute best collectors of Beanie Babies in all of middle and eastern North Carolina – striking up friendships with all the shop owners and fellow collectors. In her later years, she enjoyed making beautiful jewelry and reading the entire collections of her favorite authors of romantic historical fiction novels. She always had a book in her purse and a smile on her face while by her husband’s side at all of his doctor’s appointments, hospital stays, and chemo treatments during his 12-year bout with colon cancer. He passed away on the last day of 2019. She was selfless in caring for her husband, sometimes ignoring her own health and wellbeing, but she rarely missed her weekly hair appointments. They were her therapy!

She will always be remembered as a kind, generous, loyal, supportive, patient, and loving daughter, sister, aunt, wife, sister-in-law, mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, and friend.

​Betty was preceded in death by her father Alfred Lee Scott, mother Margie Rust Scott, sisters Ethelene and husband Ralph White, Thelma (Tiny) and husband Clyde Garner, Freda and husband William (Bill) Williams, and Shirley Scott Pulliam, brothers Winfred (Buddy) Scott and Donald Scott, her brother-in-law Lonnie Dishmon, her husband James Earl Stocker, and her son Miles Edwin Stocker. She is survived by her sister Linda Scott Young Dishmon, brother James Leonard and wife Judy Scott, sister-in law Jean Scott, all of Signal Mountain, TN, son Michael Edward Stocker and wife Pamela Askey Stocker of Kenansville, daughter Myra Ellene Stocker Rappl and husband John Paul Rappl, grandchildren Samuel James Rappl and Sara Ellene Rappl of Raleigh, daughter-in-law Lora Davis Stocker of Clayton, and many nieces, nephews, great-nieces, and great-nephews.

Our family would like to especially thank Interim Healthcare of Wallace, NC and our wonderful aides Barbara, Cortina, Dawn, Deborah, Katressa, and Michelle. We would also like to thank the Gentiva Hospice nurses Deborah, Jessica, and Taylor. We could not have kept Betty comfortably at home without them.

A visitation will be on Thursday, January 11 from 6-8 pm at Community Funeral Home in Warsaw, NC. A private funeral will be held.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the UNC Health Foundation, 123 West Franklin Street, Suite 510, Chapel Hill, NC 27516, unchealthfoundation.org.

---