Betsy Jane Dryden, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Mack Elam of Tuscaloosa died peacefully in her sleep on April 10, 2013 at her home in The Woodlands, Texas. Betsy Jane and her husband of 67 years, Horace E. Dryden, have resided in The Woodlands since 2012, but raised their family in Dallas, Texas.
Mrs. Dryden was born in Adairville, Kentucky, November 6, 1925, and moved to Decatur when she was two years old. In 1931, at the age of six, she met her future husband, Horace. She finished high school in Tuscaloosa, and then went on to the University of Alabama, where she was a member of the Chi Omega Sorority and named “Miss Alabama” in 1943. Upon his return from the Navy in 1946, Betsy and Horace married at the First United Methodist Church of Tuscaloosa.
She is survived by her husband, Horace, and her three children, Mary Beth Stevenson of Greenwich, Conn., Robert Dryden of Dallas, Texas, and James Mack Dryden of The Woodlands, and their spouses. Also surviving are eight grandchildren, Danielle Stevenson Buckman, Mark Stevenson Jr., Blake Dryden, Katie Dryden, Reed Dryden, Davis Dryden, James Mack Dryden Jr. and Heather Dryden, as well as two great-grandchildren, Miles Buckman and Owen Buckman.
She was a founding member of the Lake Highlands Women’s League and a member of the Church of the Incarnation, where she was a member of the Acosta chapter. Her family was the joy of her life.
Private services were held Friday, April 12, 2013 at Restland Funeral Home in Dallas, Texas. Any donations in her name should be made to Community Church of Santa Rosa Beach, 3524 Old Highway 98, Destin, FL 32459.
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