Betty Johnson Meeks, 88, passed away peacefully at home on October 6, 2026, surrounded by the family she loved so deeply, after a courageous battle with lymphoma.

Betty will be remembered as a rebel in the very best of ways. She was fiercely independent, deeply loving, stubborn when it mattered, and never afraid to choose her own path. At just 16 years old, she left her family in Colorado to build a life of her own in Virginia, beginning a journey that would be filled with love, family, friendship, and more than a little adventure.

Betty had a way of making life her own. She believed people should be judged by how they treated others, not by the groups they belonged to. As she once put it, “I don’t divide people into groups, well, unless you’re unkind to other people and then I don’t want to be around you.” That was Betty: independent in her thinking, unwavering in her values, and always choosing kindness.

She poured that love into the people around her in countless ways. When her six-year-old granddaughter asked her to move in, Betty didn’t hesitate. She simply said yes and became part of the everyday rhythm of another generation of her family. Her hands were rarely still, especially when she was crocheting toys and blankets for her great-grandchildren. Each one was a tangible expression of the love she carried for her family.

Betty never let age, circumstance, or even cancer define what she could do. Throughout her illness, she remained fiercely strong and stubbornly independent, determined to live life on her own terms for as long as she could. She was never one to back down from a challenge, and she certainly wasn’t about to start now.

Her greatest legacy, though, was not in the things she made or the places she went. It was in the people she loved. Betty gave her family a lifetime of strength, humor, independence, compassion, and an example of what it means to live authentically. She leaves behind shoes that will be nearly impossible to fill, but a family that will carry her spirit forward in the way they live, love, and care for one another.

Betty was greeted at the gates with love by those who went before her including her husband, Haze Meeks; her parents, Elza and Thelma Johnson; and her siblings, Jewel Wolf, Doris Walls, and Wilda Barros.

Continuing her legacy of strength , kindness, and light are her beloved children, Kenra (Paul) Pulliam and Carlisle (Charlotte) Meeks; her cherished granddaughters, Angie (Juan) Calderon, Crystal (Kurt) Alsiyao and Daphne (Dinn) Alsiyao; her adoring great-grandchildren, Eric Wilson, Sylvia (Noah) Burch, Donovan Yancey, Colin Pulliam, Kylie Alsiyao, Rysen Alsiyao, Ember Alsiyao, Brynner Alsiyao, and Ella Rose Alsiyao; her siblings, Eldon Johnson, Wilma Fitch, and James (Debbie) Johnson; many dear nieces and nephews; and special friends from the Church of Christ in Ridgeway and the Eden YMCA, including Brenda, Shirley, Junior, Webster, and her sister, Mildred.

Betty lived life on her own terms, loved without condition, and never stopped choosing kindness. Her family will miss her fiercely, love her forever, and spend the rest of their lives trying to live up to the example she left behind.

A service of remembrance will be held at 6 pm on Thursday, October 8, 2026, at Boone & Cooke Funeral Home Chapel. The family will receive friends from 5 until 6 pm before the service at the funeral home and other times at the residence.