Betty grew up in Rupert, before her family moved to Alderson when she was 14. There she quickly became involved in all facets of her new high school including joining the band, becoming Head Majorette, and being selected as a member of the prestigious Nine Girls Club. She would also meet her future husband at a football game, who knew immediately that he was in love; but because he wasn’t skilled at letting his feelings be known, it took her a few years to realize he was the love of her life, too.

Betty graduated with the Alderson High School Class of 1950. After graduation, she attended Concord College (now University) and worked at the Alderson Federal Correctional Institution for Women, where she met the infamous Tokyo Rose and Axis Sally.

She married John Marshall Alderson IV on December 27, 1952. While he attended Law School and before they started a family, she worked at the West Virginia University Library in Morgantown. She spent many years involved in all facets of her community, when they moved back home to Alderson, serving as a member and officer of various clubs and organizations, as well as in Old Greenbrier Baptist Church. She was also always involved with her children’s various school activities as they grew up at a wide variety of ages.

She was strong, intelligent, creative, and had a great sense of humor – truly beautiful inside and out. She loved decorating, antiques, music, marching bands, WVU football, and everything to do with West Virginia. She also loved anything having to do with water, having grown up playing in creeks where her father taught her how to swim, to playing with her family in the Greenbrier River, to skating on the family pond, to vacations in Myrtle Beach, SC, to skiing on Bluestone Lake, and boating at Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia.

She had a green thumb with all flowers and plants, both indoors and out. She could pretty much make anything grow, including sticks that she put in the ground to protect new seedlings. She really came into her own as a business woman when her husband inherited Alderson’s Store in November of 1986. She decided to roll up her sleeves and reinvent the historic business to keep the family tradition going, including introducing new types of inventory and using her talent for creative merchandising and displays to make the store a true attraction.

Betty also became a bit of a media sensation, while Martha Stewart was in prison in Alderson. For someone who didn’t like to have her picture taken, she had a natural ability on air. Her interviews, along with themed t-shirt creations sold in the store, went viral online as well as in newspapers, on television networks, and on radio stations across the country and abroad. She was featured in stories for the Associated Press, on each of the major networks and in a BBC documentary, just to name a few. It wasn’t uncommon for her family and friends to constantly be surprised by seeing her face and/or hearing her voice in media everywhere.

Above all, she was a wonderfully loving, fun, and supportive wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, cousin, and friend. She had a smile and laugh that was infectious. Even in the last three years, as she fought various health battles, her humor always stayed intact. Everyone around her said that she brightened their days. She did the same for her children, when they could only see her during zoom calls and a few distanced visits after the pandemic started.

She was also vivacious, determined, and always moving, earning the title of “Energizer Bunny” everywhere she went – even when she could only do it in a wheelchair. In fact, she surpassed doctors’ expectations over and over until the end. Nobody was going to simply tell her she couldn’t do something. She proved so many health professionals wrong, time and time again. She even passed away on her own terms. After doctors said she only had a matter of hours, she stayed around for days, finally getting to spend time with her family again.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband of 63 years, John Marshall Alderson IV; and an infant son, David; as well her 5 siblings, Hazel Thompson Lemasters, Clara Thompson Henderson, Mina Thompson Shafer, James “Sonny” Thompson, and Rayburn “Bud” Thompson.

She is survived by her son, John Marshall Alderson V and wife, Lisa, and their son, John Marshall Alderson VI; son, Joseph Newman Alderson III and wife, Molly, and their daughters Aundrea Yost Kelly and Emily Elizabeth Alderson, as well as their three grandchildren, Morgan, Harper and Grant Kelly; and daughters, Sarah Elizabeth Alderson and Mary Lynn Alderson.

Her many family members and friends loved her deeply and will miss her very much. She created a lot of wonderful memories for them all; and she will continue to be the inspiration for her beloved store.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, there was a private family graveside service at the Alderson Cemetery. However, a Celebration of her Life will be held at Old Greenbrier Baptist Church at a later date to be announced in 2021, when it’s safer for gatherings.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Alderson Volunteer Fire Department and EMS, P.O. Box 647, Alderson, WV 24910 or to Old Greenbrier Baptist Church, P.O. Box 456, Alderson, WV 24910.

Online condolences may be made at Lantzfuneralhome.com.

Lantz Funeral Home in Alderson is in charge of arrangements.