Betty Mathews' Obituary
Betty Mathews was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. Her parents never left Dallas except for her father’s service in WWI. Her father, John Gano Bunting, worked at the Bunting Meat Market that her grandfather, George Bunting, founded in downtown Dallas. It has a historical marker at its location in the market square. Her father was highly decorated for his service in WWI. Her mother, Katie Bunting, worked on electronics at Texas Instruments until her retirement. Her brother, John Bunting, worked on computer data at Southland Life Insurance Company, and
her sister, Joyce Breckenridge, also worked on electronics at Texas Instruments until her retirement. Joyce and her ex-husband had two children, Hazel Lee Breckenridge, and Joyce Ann Ford. Betty Mathews married Raymond Clifford Mathews just after he returned from the North African and European Theatre of WWII, and they had two children, Raymond Clifford Mathews Jr. and Ronald Mathews. Ron and his wife, Linda Mathews, have two children, Will Mathews and Jennifer Mathews. Will and his ex-wife, Janie Mathews, have two children, Ashley Nicole Mathews and Benjamin Mathews.
Betty loved her husband, whom she was married to for 55 years before he passed away from Leukemia on October 15, 1999. The story of how they met is interesting. Betty moved from Dallas to Kansas City, Kansas in 1942 to work as a “Rosie the Riveter,” on Army Air Corp planes for WWII. She enlisted in the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) in February 1943, was inducted at the Federal Building in Dallas, and received active orders for transport to Fort Des Moines, Iowa, where she served until WWII ended for the European Theatre. Soldiers returned to Fort Lewis, Washington after the war in Europe ended and awaited deployment to the Pacific war. They were greeted by many thankful Americans. Betty and one of her WAAC friends traveled there to meet the soldiers, and Betty met Raymond at a banquet dance held at the Fort. They feel in love shortly, and when it was announced that the Pacific War was over and there would be no deployment to the Pacific Theatre, Betty and Raymond got engaged and traveled to his hometowns of Willow and Hot Springs, Arkansas and her hometown to Dallas. The families on both sides loved them, and they were married in Rockwall, Texas, northeast of Dallas, in November 23, 1945.
Raymond Mathews had worked for Humble Oil Company after graduating from Texas A&M University, School of Mechanical Engineering, in 1939. As a member of the Aggie Corps of Cadets, he was entitled to a Commission, and enlisted in the U.S. Army Coastal Artillery. When he came back from the war, he was able to work again for Humble Oil Company that later became Exxon Oil Company with credit for all his previous work time before going to war and for all of his years during WWII. He told everybody that they treated him just like family, and enjoyed his many years of work for Exxon as an engineer. Betty Mathews moved with him to all of his work locations including Houston, Fort Worth, and Dallas. She was a home keeper/house wife, and they raised their children with the conservative life style they grew up with, including family values, outdoor life, vacations to national parks, hunting, fishing in local lakes and coastal bays, and life was wonderful.
Throughout all their years together, they always went to homecoming in Willow, Arkansas where everybody who lived there at one time and their decedents meet for pot luck lunch in the associations picknick ground. Many great stories of growing up there were told, as well as war stories from the men who served in WWII. Betty loved going to the homecomings, and so did their children, Ray and Ron, who still go to them today as associate members. There is a Cypress Methodist Church built in 1836 on the Willow Association grounds, as well as a Cypress Cemetery, surrounded by a dense forest of pine trees. It is a wonderful feeling to sing old hymns in the church and be with longtime friends and cousins on the beautiful picknick grounds.
Betty was always very social, and had many friends everywhere she went. She was a member of Chapel Hill United Methodist Church, North Dallas Woman’s Club, and Brookhaven Bridge Club. They always said she was sweet and fun to be with. Betty and Raymond were members of the Chapel Hill Methodist Church for 40 years. Her favorite things to do were watching song birds in her backyard, especially Cardinals, traveling, going to the family land (we called the “farm“) close to Dew, Texas, between Fairfield and Buffalo, Texas, and visiting her grandkids and great grandkids.
Raymond liked going to his WWII Army Reunions, that included the 5th Army’s 435th AAA Battalion and 473rd Infantry Regiment. Those who served were located all over the United States after the war, and took turns sponsoring the reunions. Our family sponsored the 60th Reunion in Dallas in 2005. Unfortunately, Raymond passed away in 1999 and missed this reunion. However, the family went with Raymond and Betty to many of the reunions, and heard a lot of stories about Raymond’s service in North Africa and Italy, including three beach landings at Anzio, Salerno, and Normandy (D-Day +6). Betty made many friends at those WWII Army Reunions that lasted over 50 years. We visited places like Albuquerque, NM; Detroit, MI; Myrtle Beach, NC; Williamsburg, VA; and Corpus Christi, TX. Each place we visited had bus tours for the reunion veterans and family, and we always drove around to see the local sites.
Betty moved from their house on Jubilee Trail in north Dallas in 2008, to make the Bentley Retirement Center her home for about 4 years due to health issues. She made many friends there who enjoyed their retirement life together. Betty was walking around the Bentley Center one day and noticed a second floor apartment was on fire, and she immediately reported it to the management. Several fire trucks and ambulances were dispatched, and one handy caped man was in that apartment suffering from severe smoke inhalation. If it were not for Betty’s heroic efforts to report the fire and get emergency services to the location, that man would not have lived, according to EMS. The Bentley Retirement Center and Dallas Fire Department gave Betty an award for what she did that day.
In 2012, Betty started on a slow progression of dementia for nearly 10 years at the Avenues of Park Forest Assisted Living Center and Memory Care on Forest Lane in the same area as the Bentley Retirement Center. Betty was their favorite resident there, with all the staff saying she was very sweet and friendly until her last days. She wanted to make it to 100 years old, and she did accomplish that milestone. She loved her husband, children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, sister, brother, nephews, nieces, and cousins, and many friends she made along the way.
Services will be held at Restland Funeral Home and Cemetery at 13005 Greenville Avenue, Dallas, TX 75234 from 2:00 – 3:00 pm Monday, July 19, 2021, in the Wildwood Chapel. Family will receive friends from 1:00 – 2:00 pm for visitation, also at the Wildwood Chapel. Chaplin Robin Bledsoe officiating. Interment to follow at Restland Memorial Park in Chapel Gardens area in walking distance of the Wildwood Chapel. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Capital of Texas or North Dallas Alzheimer’s & Dementia Foundation (weblink: https://www.alz.org/texascapital/donate.
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