Betty Ploger's Obituary
Betty Ploger died on Wednesday, May 7, 2025 in Dallas, Texas.
She was born Elizabeth Layuna Chamblee in Augusta, Georgia, on March 2, 1926 to parents James Russell Chamblee and Pauline Reynolds Glenn Chamblee who both preceded her in death. Also preceding her was her husband of 64 years Clemens Robert Ploger and her sister Paulne Reyn Chamblee Gibs Sheehan.
Betty is survived by her son Jeffrey Keith Ploger of Dallas, Texas; sisters Barbara Joy Chamblee Vrolyk of Nederland, Texas; brother James (Jim) Russell Chamblee, Jr. of Bartlesville, Oklahoma; six nephews and one niece.
Betty grew up in Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, moving about with her parents and graduating from Columbus High School in Columbus, Georgia in 1942. She moved with her parents to Port Arthur, Texas and earned a BA from Trinity University in San Antonio, and later an MA in Religious Education from McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago and an MS in Learning Disabilities from East Texas A&M University.
After seminary she became Director of Religious Education at First Presbyterian Church of Evanston, Illinois where she met C. Robert Ploger at a church square dance. They were married in 1953 in Port Arthur, Texas and moved to Dallas in 1962. Jeff, their only child, was born in 1957 in Evanston. Bob and Betty enjoyed many years of square dancing as members of clubs in Algonquin, IL, and Dallas and visiting other clubs.
Simultaneously Betty enjoyed many years and many students as Resource teacher at University Park Elementary School in Texas, retiring in 1986.
In 1991 Betty and Bob gathered a group of other members of Dallas Alliance for the Mentally Ill (now known as NAMI) to initiate and organize Planned Living Assistance Network of North Texas, Inc., now known as People Living Active Now. PLAN is a not-for-profit comprehensive lifetime service for adults living with serious and persistent mental illnesses. The Plogers have been highly instrumental in guiding, serving and promoting the growth of PLAN.
The Funeral Service will be held on Saturday, June 7, 2025 at Restland Funeral Home's Wildwood Chapel at 2:00pm. Friends and family may gather prior, starting at 1:00pm. Interment Restland Cemetery & Memorial Park.
If you wish, the family would appreciate a memorial contribution to PLAN of North Texas.
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