Betty Jean Duke

Betty Jean Popejoy Duke, of Groesbeck, passed away at Groesbeck LTC on Monday, January 2, 2017, at age 82. Visitation will be held from 12:00 Noon until time for the funeral services which will begin at 2:00 P.M. on Wednesday, January 4, 2017, in the Groesbeck Funeral Home Chapel, with Chaplain Jon Honea of the Limestone Medical Center officiating. Burial will follow in Faulkenberry Cemetery. Pallbearers will be James Duke, Don Popejoy, Mike Popejoy, Dillan Terry, Garrett Wynn, and Byran Popejoy. Wesley Popejoy will be an Honorary Pallbearer. Betty was born January 21, 1934 to Jim and Thelma (Nichols) Popejoy in Groesbeck, where she grew up and attended school. She worked for sixteen years as a telephone operator for Gulf States /Sprint. When the office moved to Athens she worked there two years, before retiring in 1989. Although Betty had no children of her own, she had many children through her special relationship with her many nieces and nephews. They loved her and she loved them like her own kids. Betty really enjoyed playing Bingo. She loved getting a group of ladies together, and sometimes her nieces, and going to play Bingo, anywhere within a hundred miles or so, and as often as she could. She was often a winner and could get really excited about the game. She had resided at Groesbeck LTC for the past eight years, and continued to enjoy Bingo there for a long time. Betty worshipped at the Prairie Grove Baptist Church as long as her health permitted. Betty was preceded in death by her parents; her husband William B. Duke; brother and sister-in-law, Joe L. and Barbara Popejoy; brother and sister-in-law, James and Nelda Popejoy; sister, Nadine Popejoy Stafford; and sister-in-law, Sandra Hughes-Popejoy. She is survived by her brother, Dwain Popejoy of Groesbeck; brother-in-law, Jesse Stafford of South Carolina; and many nieces and nephews.