Betty Sue Adkins
MIDDLETON - Betty Sue Stewart Adkins, 85, of Middleton, Tennessee, peacefully passed from this world to her eternal home August 8, 2020. Betty Sue will add a beautiful voice and music in heaven with her husband, mother, father, and brother.
Betty Sue, born June 4, 1935 in Lexington, Kentucky, was raised in a house full of love in Williamstown, Kentucky. She came from a family of strong faith in a home which was rooted in love and music. She always loved spending time with her many Coates cousins in northern Kentucky. In 1954, Betty Sue married Larry Adkins. They lived in Warsaw, Kentucky, Madison, Indiana, and Memphis, Tennessee before settling in Middleton, Tennessee in 1969.
Betty Sue worked as a teacher’s assistant, a substitute teacher, and for Cornelius Sawmill and Middleton Drug Store. She played the piano at churches wherever she and Larry lived, playing for Middleton First Baptist full-time from 1969 to 2016. Betty Sue loved all kinds of music and shared her musical gifts and talent with her churches and dozens of piano students throughout the years. Besides her love of music, Betty Sue loved to travel and spoke often and fondly of the many trips she took with family and friends. She shared that same sense of adventure with her children.
Betty Sue loved her husband, her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren and she took much pride in each of them. Her ever-present smile was always a little brighter when she talked about her family. She was married to her husband, Larry, for 63 years setting an example of love for God, family, and friends.
We especially thank the Quail Ridge and Page Robbins families. Staff and friends we met there were a blessing as our family dealt with the terrible disease of Alzheimer’s. Her caretakers are special people.
She is survived by her three children Becky, Larry (Sherry) and Eddie (Becky); four granddaughters, Lauren (Becky), Paige and Marina (Larry), and Emma (Eddie); and five great grandchildren, Jared, Sally and Rylee (Paige) and Chandler and Mattie (Marina). Her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren are blessed to call her Mom and Nannie and she will be missed by all. She is preceded in death by her parents Raymond and Edith Coates Stewart, her brother, Marvin Ray Stewart and her beloved husband, Larry Adkins.
A celebration of life will be held August 12, 2020 at Middleton First Baptist Church. Visitation will be 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., with a funeral service at 1:00 p.m. The family requests anyone attending to please follow all the recommended practices for social distancing and to please wear a mask. Shackelford Funeral Directors of Bolivar are in charge of arrangements.
The family sincerely appreciates all the love, support, and prayers. In lieu of flowers, the family asks donations to be made to the Larry and Betty Sue Adkins Music Scholarship Fund at First Baptist Church of Middleton, TN.