Starkey-Gallaher, Lois Elizabeth
July 1, 1925 - September 11, 2017
Lois Elizabeth Starkey-Gallaher, age 92, passed away peacefully at home September 11, 2017 surrounded by her loved ones. She was born on July
1, 1925 to Lois Cornell Wood and Jason Guild Wood in Los Angeles, California. Growing up, she lived in India, California, and Oklahoma, but had resided in Albuquerque since 1954.
Lois, who was always known as Betty, was predeceased by Jack Starkey, to whom she was married from 1947 until his death in 1982 and Jack Gallaher of Socorro, to whom she was married from 2004 until his death in 2009. She is survived by three daughters and sons-in-law, Ed and Cathleen Armstrong of California, David and Peggy Riddle of North Carolina, and Tom and Cindy McConnell of Albuquerque. She also had five grandsons, five granddaughters, eighteen great-grandchildren, and was looking forward to welcoming her nineteenth great-grandchild and first great-great-grandchild in the coming weeks.
From 1954 until she retired in 1982, Betty Starkey shared her lifelong love of learning with the hundreds of students who passed through her classrooms in the Albuquerque Public Schools. After retirement, she traveled the world—and visited grandchildren. She loved art, playing bridge and cheering the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday afternoons. She was a fifty-plus member of the PEO Sisterhood, and for well over half a century, was a faithful member of First Baptist Church, Hoffmantown Church, and in her later years, Sandia Baptist Church.
But her greatest love, even more than her precious grandchildren, was her Lord, and the greatest legacy she left her family was the unwavering faith she lived out every day of her life. Friends are welcome to join the family in a Celebration of her Life on Friday, September 22, 2017, 11:00 a.m. at FRENCH – Lomas. Interment will follow the service at Sandia Memory Gardens. Please visit our online guestbook for Betty at www.FrenchFunerals.com