Betty Jane Becker Walker went to Heaven to be with The Lord Jesus on Sunday, July 14, 2024. She was at home and surrounded by her loving family.
Jane was born on February 19, 1926, in Independence, Kansas. She was the only child of John Eugene Becker and Gertrude Effie Bauman Becker. She was preceded in death by her infant daughter, Emilie Gertrude, her parents, and her most-beloved husband of 54 years, Emanuel Jaynes Walker. She was a founding member of Grace Lutheran Church in Huntsville and was able to attend services until May 2024.
She is survived by her son, Emanuel Jaynes Walker III; daughter, Eve Jane Walker Swaim, and son-in-law Kenneth Swaim, all of Huntsville; and granddaughter, Grace Lockhart Swaim and grandson-in-law, Bryan Leue of New Haven, Connecticut. She has an extended family of cousins in California, Nebraska, Iowa, and North Carolina.
Jane grew up in Independence, Kansas and attended Oklahoma A&M University (now Oklahoma State University) where she received a Bachelor of Science in Bacteriology and Virology in 1949. She completed a postgraduate program in Medical Technology and became a Registered Medical Technologist. She led a hospital laboratory at Jane Phillips Memorial Hospital in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
Jane lived through tremendous times in our history and had vivid memories of the Great Depression and World War II. She heard Benny Goodman in-person in Kansas City, Missouri in 1950, and went to the Copacabana Night Club and saw “A Long Day’s Journey Into Night” on Broadway in 1957.
Around 1953, Jane and her widowed mother moved to Jacksonville, North Carolina where Jane was a bacteriologist with the Navy Medical Field Research Laboratory at Camp Lejeune Marine Base. She met Emanuel there – he was an engineer in the Public Works Department. They were married at The Lutheran Church of Our Savior on November 14, 1959, with a wedding reception at The United States Marine Corps Officers Club, Camp Lejeune.
In 1960, the couple moved to Huntsville where Emanuel joined the United States Army Ballistic Missile Agency as a Mechanical Engineer with the Field Army Ballistic Missile Defense System. Their children were born in the 1960s, and Jane was a loving, devoted mother to them and very involved in their education. She was extremely proud that both her children were Mechanical Engineers.
When Emanuel retired in 1982, Jane and he enjoyed watching classic movies together and eating breakfasts at local restaurants. Jane was thrilled with the birth of her granddaughter and loved spending time with her, buying her clothes, and attending school functions. She was a Charter Member of the Randolph School Grandparent’s Association.
In later years, she was a very active member of the Martinis and Manuscripts group at The Ledges County Club and gave several presentations on Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Jane loved Alabama football and Nick Saban, and her highlight was meeting Mal Moore and hugging Coach Saban after a Tide Pride event at The Ledges.
Her son Emanuel “Manny” adored her and led her care as her health declined beginning in 2016. Given her age, Jane was in relatively good health up to her last month. Her long life was the result of Manny’s loving care combined with wonderful doctors, nurses, and in-home aides.
The funeral service will be held at Grace Lutheran Church in Huntsville on Thursday, July 18th at 10 a.m. Visitation will be at the church beginning at 9 a.m. until the service begins.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Grace Lutheran Church in memory of Betty Jane Walker.
