BETTY CALVERT LINDSAY
10/09/1938 - 10/11/2023
The end of all perfection… Betty Calvert Lindsay passed away on October 11, 2023 at her home in Austin, Texas. She was a caring and supportive wife, daughter, mother, sister, grandmother and friend. She was a beautiful woman, shy and unassuming, but also very wise in the ways of the world, who taught her children the importance of learning about world events and having compassion for others and their plight.
She was born October 9th, 1938 in Trinity, Texas and soon her parents moved to Houston. She excelled in school graduating at the top of her high school class. She very much enjoyed her early jobs at The Federal Reserve Bank and the M. D. Anderson Library in Houston. While majoring in English at the University of Houston, she met her college sweetheart Carl Robert “Bob” Lindsay and soon married in 1959. Three children soon followed all two years apart, Elizabeth, Korell and Katy.
She was a homemaker in the true sense of the word and always had on hand her famous “sweet tea” for all the kids in the neighborhood! She stressed the importance of literacy and regularly volunteered in the school’s libraries. She would read classic poetry and novels to her children every evening after dinner, with her favorite poem being Maud Muller by John Greenleaf Whittier.
Words cannot express her children’s bereavement at the passing of their best friend who only showed true unconditional love. There was never a minute in her life that she wasn’t sweet, kind, generous, thoughtful, and selfless to everyone around her. We have all suffered a huge loss and all better off for having known her. “To thine own self be true” and “This too shall pass” were her favorite sayings and it was a great privilege to her daughters knowing that their mother was always encouraging and in their corner in this life.
She was a member of the Austin Woman’s Club and the Thankful Hubbard Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. She is preceded in death by her much loved son, Franklin Korell Tourtellotte Lindsay; her brother, William “Bobby” Calvert, and her lovely parents Ona Belle Dudley Calvert and William Bernice Calvert. She is survived by her two daughters, Elizabeth Lindsay Witte (Harold), Katherine Ann “Katy” Lindsay, and her grandson, Jack Ryan Witte. The family held a private burial at Concord Cemetery near Iola, Texas where her son, parents, great-grand parents and grandparents, Arrie Belle Poss Dudley and John Texas Dudley, are buried.
Contributions may be made to SOCA-FBC.org, or the next time you are speaking to the cashier at the local drivethrough consider letting them have the change from your $20 bill. Say it is from Betty Lindsay, as she performed this kind act on a regular basis.