Betty Jane Longworth Otto, a native of Columbus, Ohio, passed away last Saturday, September 14th of 2013. She was living at home, but had recently been hospitalized for a small obstruction of the digestive tract. Having undergone major surgery for removal of the tiny obstruction, she unfortunately succumbed to post-operative complications. She was eighty-six years of age. Betty was the third child of six, born on February 24th of 1927, to her mother, Ella Leona Oiler, and father, John B. Longworth, who hailed from Kentucky. Additionally, she had two sisters, Edna and Louise, both now deceased, and two brothers—an older brother, John, and the youngest child, George, who is still alive and well at eighty-three years of age, residing in their home state of Ohio. On New Year’s Eve of 1950, Betty J. Longworth was married in New York City to the love of her life, William Frederick Otto—the then simple Kodak worker who would eventually find occupation in the South with the U.S. Army Missile Command and whisk Betty (and the two son’s born to them whilst residing in Rochester, NY—William Jr. and Robert) away to their new life in the humble, unassuming city of Huntsville, Alabama. William Sr. and Betty would go on to have one last child—their daughter, Lorinda, around thirteen years after moving to the South. The two held together their marriage triumphantly for twenty-five years, but, alas, separated and divorced in the mid-1970s. William Sr. would later pass on in January, 1992. Betty never remarried. Never having been the primary bread winner, she ventured into new and unfamiliar territory—going on to pursue a career in order to make a living and provide for her preteen daughter. She began small, working first in the cafeteria of Johnson High School. She attended Calhoun and Athens State, eventually becoming a Licensed Practical Nurse, and finding employment at Huntsville Hospital in Labor & Delivery. She strove to become an RN, but fell a semester’s worth of credits short—opting instead for a higher paying career as an LPN in the Intensive Care Unit at Redstone Arsenal’s Fox Army Health Center. After 25 years of service, she retired from Fox Army Hospital at the incredible age of 73. She did considerably well for herself, as a single working mother, even buying and renting out houses to close family friends along the way and funding two separate ventures—small shoe supply stores—in Huntsville and Hartselle, AL locations. She is survived but not only her younger brother George and her three children, Lorinda, Robert, and William Jr., but by four grandchildren as well as two great-grandchildren. At this juncture, no memorial services are planned. Having lived so long, she had survived most all close friends and co-workers. If anyone would be interested in gathering up some old acquaintances, memorial services may still be held, though Spry Funeral Homes will need to be contacted soon @ (256)536-6654. Alternatively, Lorinda can be reached at (256)337-7805. Plans can still be put together but are, as of now, unlikely.
