Betty Margaret (Cooper) Hall

Betty Hall entered fully into the presence of her Lord and savior, Jesus Christ, on Sunday, June 27, 2021. Betty passed away peacefully in Carthage, Missouri following a long illness. She was 78.

Betty Margaret (née Cooper) Hall was born Tuesday, February 9, 1943, in the little logging town of Honobia, Oklahoma, to Thelma Pauline (née Smalling) Cooper and Warner Eugene Cooper. The third of five children, Betty grew up in a hardworking, Bible-believing family that loved to laugh, work, and sing Gospel music together.

Betty had a true teacher's heart. As a girl in Prineville, Oregon, she would often play school by lining up sticks and rocks as her imaginary students and "teaching" them. Although she was always a good and conscientious student, she would humbly say that she "wasn't the smartest student, she just worked the hardest."

After graduating Valedictorian from Battiest High School in Battiest, Oklahoma, she went on to earn top recognition at Eastern Oklahoma A&M College. There, she served as yearbook editor and was named Outstanding Student in the Liberal Arts Division, Top Scholastic Student, and Outstanding Female Graduate in 1963. Three years later, she graduated from East Central State College with a major in Secondary Education and a minor in Business.

Having grown up on a farm, Betty was not afraid of hard work. She put herself through college, sometimes holding multiple jobs to make ends meet, including a job at the Ada Police Department, where she became the town's first uniformed female officer.

As a teacher in New Mexico, she taught at Webster and Franklin Jr. High Schools, Laguna schools, the women's prison, and the UNM campus in Grants. Toward the end of her teaching career, she was an often-requested short and long-term substitute teacher for schools in Winnemucca, Nevada. One of her fondest teaching memories was working with a group of Grass Valley Elementary students (some as old as 12) who could not read. She diligently poured herself into the work and purchased special curriculum at her own expense to teach the children to read.

Betty married William "Bill" Hall, in Catalina, Arizona on May 27, 1973. With very little time to plan their simple outdoor ceremony, Betty - ever the resourceful one - whipped up a bouquet and boutonnieres using flowers she found onsite. In 2003, she and Bill celebrated 30 wonderful years together, just before his passing the following year. Together, they raised six children, whom they loved greatly.

Betty enjoyed yardwork and often wielded her green thumb to turn a boring plot of dirt into a virtual oasis. She loved flowers - growing them, arranging them, and wearing them. (You would often see a silk-flowered comb in her hair, which became something of a calling card.)

Betty loved music, like her father. He taught her to read old-fashioned shaped-note music when she was about 10 years old, and with the music basics under her belt, she went on to teach herself to play piano. She played mostly by ear, with an energetic, stride piano style that was unmistakable. She often served as the church piano player and loved to play and sing Gospel songs and hymns with family and friends.

Her Christian faith was the bedrock of her life. She operated the Words of Life Christian Book & Gift Shop in Grants during the 1970's and 80's. Because she and Bill viewed the store as a ministry, she never took a paycheck. She taught innumerable Bible studies and Sunday School lessons over the years, and in 1996, she and Bill became licensed ministers with the Pentecostal Church of God. Betty helped, counseled, taught, ministered to, and prayed with countless lost, hurting, and hungry souls who came into her store, called her on the phone, sat under her teaching, or simply sought her out. She was kind and generous with her time to anyone needing counsel and prayer.

Whether it was flowers in her garden, a student's understanding of a difficult subject, or a fellow Christian's maturity in the faith, Betty seized every opportunity to help something or someone grow. She had a compassionate heart, a strong determination to persevere through difficulty and pain, and a beautiful smile. Her family will greatly miss her warm hugs, her piano playing, her desire to help the underdog, her fun way of storytelling, her chocolate gravy and biscuits, her cozy tuck-ins, her special "yell" at basketball games, her wise counsel, her Godly encouragement to forgive others, her servant's heart, her unshakable faith, and her powerful prayers.

She was preceded in death by her husband, William "Bill" Hall; her parents, Warner and Thelma Cooper; one sister, Wilma Hodge; and two brothers, George and Wayland Cooper.

She is survived by six children, Ross Hall (Lisa) of Grants, NM, Monica Mihajlovic (Daniel) of West Bend, WI, Muriel Davenport of Joplin, MO, Teri Draper (Steve) of Pilot Rock, OR, Rick Hall (Tammy) of Gallup, NM, and Sandy Chesshir (Tommy) of Pilot Rock, OR; many grandchildren and great-grandchildren; one sister, Wanda Moore of Grants, NM; and innumerable extended family members, friends, and former students.

Funeral Service will be held on Friday, July 9, 2021, 11:00 a.m., at Temple of Peace Church, 610 Valencia Ave, Milan, NM 87021. She will be laid to rest at Grants Memorial Park Cemetery in a private ceremony.