Betty Driver Peeler, a Huntsville fixture for six decades, joyfully completed her earthly race on Sunday, February 26, surrounded by her four daughters and other beloved family. Betty Graham Driver, daughter of Leslie and Sarah Driver, was born in Johnson City, Tennessee and raised in Bristol, Tennessee with her three brothers. She graduated from Vanderbilt University with a psychology degree and a fiancé. She and Dr. Milton Peeler married in September 1949 and remained unabashedly blissful until his death in 2011. While he practiced medicine, Betty raised their five children and began a lifetime of community service that ended only with her recent final illness. Most of her work focused on those in need and included such things as assistance with obtaining GED’s and public benefits. She was a local founder of both Meals on Wheels and the Churches United for the People (CUP) rent assistance program. She visited the sick, lonely and dying, befriended the incarcerated, and welcomed the foreigner into her community and her home; she embodied Matthew 25:34-40. Betty loved her church home and served there in many capacities, from teaching to outreach to administration. A believer in harmonious living, she was long active in Church Women United and addressed myriad issues of social, racial and gender equality and justice, including at the World Conference on Women in Beijing. She loved not only humanity as a whole but the thousands of individuals she so easily befriended, even during her final days; her ready smile and genuine interest in others was irresistible. As she returns to the Lord she loved and served so well, she will be sorely missed by her children: Patricia (Joel) Marshall, Virginia Peeler, Betty Booth Peeler (Rob Humphrey), David (Cindy) Peeler and Sarah Tatum (Gary Lee); her grandchildren: Jennifer (Drew) Allan, Adam (Erin) Marshall, Blanton (Anne) Tatum, and Andrew, Emily and Elise Peeler; her brother Tom (Anne Barstow) Driver; and all her many friends and extended family members.
Visitation will be from 12:00 to 2:00 Friday at First United Methodist Church with a memorial service at 2:00, Rev. Coy Hallmark officiating and Rev. Ron Gonia and Dr. Tom Driver participating. Family graveside service and interment will be at Maple Hill Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to First United Methodist Church (Meals on Wheels or CUP), 120 Greene Street, 35801.
