Betty Lea (Underwood) Horton, the daughter of Charles A. and Alice A. (Vernon) Underwood, was born in Rock Port, Missouri on August 12, 1924. In her early years she attended New Hope country school and graduated from Rock Port High School in 1941. After graduation, Betty worked at the Exchange Bank of Fairfax in Fairfax, Missouri. She also worked at the Atchison County Extension Service and the License Bureau in Rock Port. She then began her employment with Atchison Holt Electric Cooperative, where she would retire after 29 years of service.

On December 16, 1944, Betty was united in marriage to Raymond Horton in Hugo, Oklahoma. They became the parents of two children, Cheryl and Jerry. Following Raymond’s time in the military, the couple returned to Rock Port in 1945, where they lived to the present time. Betty was a faithful member of the Rock Port First Lutheran Church, where she was a member of W.E.L.C.A. She passed away Tuesday, March 30, 2010 at Pleasant View Nursing Home in Rock Port at the age of 85 years.

Besides her parents, Betty was preceded in death by her son, Jerry Horton; three sisters, Gwendolyn Burke, Gertrude Melvin and Juanita McCartney. She is survived by her husband, Raymond, of their home in Rock Port; her daughter, Cheryl Hurst, Raytown, Missouri; two grandchildren, Christopher Hurst and his wife, Mary, Overland Park, Kansas and Courtney Gustafson and her husband, Noah, Raytown; one great granddaughter, Georgia Gustafson, Raytown and one nephew, Gilbert Burke and his wife, Ann, Rock Port.

Memorial Service: 11:00 am, Saturday, April 3, 2010, First Lutheran Church, Rock Port, MO.
The family will receive friends at First Lutheran Church on Saturday from 10:00 am to 10:45 am, prior to the service. Friends may call at Minter Funeral Chapel after 9:00 am, Friday, April 2, 2010.
Inurnment: Elmwood Cemetery, Rock Port, MO.
Memorials: Rock Port Nutrition Center.
Services: Minter Funeral Chapel, Rock Port, MO.