Betty Deatherage Laurie Conover Obituary

Betty Rae Deatherage and daughter Laurie Ann Conover sojourns are over, they are now with the Lord. While alive, they held on to life dearly, each fighting to the end. Born October 20, 1926 at Memorial Hospital, Betty Rea McKenney was the only child of John and Vara McKenney. She graduated from both Colorado Springs High School and Blair Business College in 1944 and worked at Peterson Field. After WWII Betty moved to Fort Worth, where she met Lt. I.C. Deatherage at Carswell Air Field. They were married in 1948. They traveled where ever the USAF sent them. I.C. died in 1967. In 1970 Betty was diagnosed with uterine cancer, She survived the treatment and returned to work in 1971. She successfully overcame all future side effects of this cancer through out the rest of her life. Betty retired from civil service in 1981. Even as her parent's primary care provider, she had time to return to her first joys: art, book collecting, history, and garage saling. She became an accomplished calligrapher and water colorist, teaching these skills to her granddaughters. Never able to pass up a good find, Betty actually had a second career in reselling her discoveries. God's promise in Psalm 46 always provided great comfort to Betty. Laurie was born on August 22, 1954 in Cleburne, Texas. She graduated from Wasson High School and Regis University. Her career was in Software Assurance, where she worked for ARINC and MCI/Worldcom. Laurie enjoyed everything: especially cooking, gardening, and the outdoors. Her cooking experiments were well received by visiting family and friends. Every year she planted a garden friendly to hummingbirds and butterflies. Laurie loved being outdoors. As "Parsi", she participated in Fur-trading era rendevous activities where she was also known as "Ironed Own Patches". She was a crackshot with a flintlock, winning many local shoots, and went to the State Masters meet. Laurie was a lifelong gun enthusiast, she was a certified pistol safety instructor, teaching for several years. Laurie first survived cancer in 1997, then again in 2008. This last summer she faced cancer with God's promise in Phillipians 1:21, "to live is Christ, to die is gain". Betty and Laurie are survived by son/brother Joel Deatherage, his wife Sharon, granddaughters Jordan Manning and Cathryn Deatherage, and Laurie's long time boyfriend Doug Davis. A joint Memorial Service is scheduled for 10 AM Saturday, October 10, at First Baptist Church, 317 E. Kiowa..