Ophelia Betty Jean Livingston

A bright and beautiful light has gone out - Betty Livingston has gone home to heaven. A loving mother, grandmother, aunt and friend, she was a joy and an inspiration to all who knew her.
As a child bride and eventually a single mother in the 1950s she learned the virtue of self reliance at an early age, and worked hard all her life. A story she often told was that when she was trying to support three children on a cotton mill salary she would collect all the bills in a bucket by the coal stove and use them to start the fire in the morning. She eventually secured a secretarial position at the mill and survived three changes of ownership while rising to the position of assistant to the plant manager.
A natural athlete, she was a star basketball player when she attended Fairforest High School, and throughout the 1990s she was a mainstay of the Park Hills Church of God softball team. Later she and her husband Johnnie also enjoyed hiking the mountain trails of the Smokies.
She was a woman of many skills and interests. She loved to dance - from square dancing to belly dancing, she was always on the dancefloor, and in her younger days won many a twist contest. In her late seventies she discovered a talent for painting and produced beautiful landscapes and still life scenes.
She was for many years a member of the TOPS Club, often serving in leadership rolls, and said that many of the other members felt like family. She was also a member of the Red Hat Society.
But most of her energy was given to the church. She was a member of the Church at the Mill for many years, participating in the Christian Women's Club, Young at Heart, and Thursday Prayer Group as well as Bible Study Group, and Adult Sunday School. For nine years she and Johnnie ran a children's mission and youth center on the north side of Spartanburg.
She was preceded in death by her beloved daughter Donna Helton and cherished son Tony Shropshire, her brother Ralph Norton and sisters in law Linda Norton and Brenda Norton, her infant granddaughter Wendy Shropshire, step daughter Claudette Livingston, two ex husbands and her parents Winford and Beatrice Norton. She is survived by her faithful husband Johnnie Livingston, brother L.W. Norton, her son Bobby Shropshire, daughters in law Brenda Shropshire and Rosemary Shropshire, step children Suzanne Cobb and Jay Livingston, five grandchildren Kelly Shropshire, Erin Shropshire, Bridget Shropshire, Michael Shropshire and Patrick Shropshire, and step grandchildren Sarah Bishop, Sabrina Johnson, Kristal Livingston, Kenneth Cobb, and Alexander Johnson.
She will be remembered for her humor, her exuberance, and her fierce determination. She always had a smile on her face, a joke at the tip of her tongue and an open and loving heart for everyone she met. She was truly one of a kind and will be deeply missed.
Service will be at 2 pm on Wednesday, January 11, at the Church at the Mill. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to one of Betty's favorite charities: St. Jude's Children's Hospital, Paralyzed Veterans of America, St. Labre Indian School, or a charity of your choice.