Betty Slaughter Welch

WELCH, Betty Slaughter of Dallas, born January 6, 1936, passed away December 22, 2003. Survived by son, Paul Slaughter; daughter, Peggy Slaughter Wilson; 6 grandchildren and several cousins. Services will be 10:00AM Saturday December 27, 2003, at the New Hope Funeral Home, in Sunnyvale, with Rev. Nelson T. Leeman officiating. Interment will be in Grove Hill Memorial Park of Dallas.Family will receive friends at the funeral home Friday evening from 6:00PM - 8:00PM. Known by many different names by many different people; Betty Sue Reeder, Betty Slaughter, Betty Welch, Ma, Mom, Granny, and loved by all. She was born on January 6, 1936, at home in Dallas, Texas, to father W. E. Reeder and mother Nola Mae (Hughes) Reeder.She was a small baby weighing about five pounds.She had a younger brother who passed away at the age of two.Her parents soon divorced and she was left alone to help care for her sickly mother,so at the age of fourteen she got a job to help while still remaining in school.In time she graduated from Forest Avenue High School.Times got better when her mother married a wonderful man who Betty called Papa.They moved to Pleasant Grove. One night while washing her hair, two young men came knocking on their door.She wrapped a towel around her head and answered the door.They told her they were visiting from the local Baptist Church.One of them was quite taken by her and came back for another look.He was Bill Slaughter.They began dating and on March 16, 1956, they were married. As luck would have it, they were soon separated - Bill was drafted and went off to serve in the Army.They did get to see each other some and wrote often.She kept all his letters. Their first child, Paul Joe, was born on March 16, 1957, on their first anniversary.Bill packed up Betty and their new baby boy and off they went to Fort Chappee.Her new home was an 18' mobile home just off base. Betty spent many nights at home rocking her colicky baby.After Bill's time was us, they moved back to Dallas. On December 28, 1982, their second child, Peggy Sue, was born.In the fall of 1963, Betty started working at J.C. Penney's at Big Town Mall and later moved with the store to Town East Mall where she was working when she retired in 1997 after 34 years of service.She then went to work part time at Southwest Securities with her good friend, Sandra Fisher. Through the years, she had many jobs she loved that didn't pay money:wife to Bill (Chief), mom to Paul and Peggy and assorted stray children who came be the house, PTA mom, Scout leader wife (a tough job in itself), youth sponsor at church,Sunday school teacher, and granny. The sudden death of Bill in 1984 was hard on the entire family, but Betty had great faith in the Lord and kept them together, even in her own deep sorrow.They had been together for 28 years. Life rolled on and in 1985, Peggy married Eugene Boger and on March 1, 1989, the first grandchild, Jessica Rachel, was born.Being a granny suited Betty well.It gave her a new meaning of life. Paul married Michelle Saucier in 1990.Clayton Thomas, born on June 27, 1991; William Ramsey, born on December 26, 1994; and Stephen Joseph born on May 9, 1997, are her grandsons. In June, 2000, she and Leon Welch were married under a marquee at the family farm, Painted Acres, surrounded by friends and family.The year they were married before Leon passed away was a very happy time. Peggy followed after her mother and married Steve moved into the family home just down the street from Betty. Betty always had to stay busy.She loved to travel with friends and family.She went on a mission trip to Wales and on to Scotland.She also visited many places around Texas and the U. S.She also enjoyed spending time with her Forest Avenue alumnae friends as well as her church family.She loved to cook and sew and her friends and family will greatly treasure the blankets she made for everyone. When she went to meet the Lord, she left behind her son Paul, daughter-in-law Michelle, grandsons Clay, Will and Stephen Slaughter, daughter Peggy, son-in-law, Steve Wilson, granddaughter Jessica Boger, and step-grandsons Steven and Jerrod Wilson, a host of friends and their children and her church family that she claimed as her own.