Bettye Jean Ellis Nunnally Pennington was born June 14, 1934, in Walker County, Ala. and died on Jan. 28, 2020 in Jasper, where she lived for more than 50 years. She was 85 years old. Family will be receiving friends on Friday, Jan. 31, 2020, from 5 until 7 p.m., at Kilgore-Green Funeral Home. Celebration of life will be held on Saturday, Feb. 1, 2020, at 10 a.m., in the Kilgore-Green Chapel, burial at Oak Hill Cemetery. Levi Sides will officiate. Bettye graduated from Walker County High School and married her high school sweetheart whom she followed to Auburn, working as a bank teller to put him through school. As their young family grew with a daughter and then a son, in 1963 a lengthy illness and untimely death left Bettye alone with two young children. Bettye enrolled in Walker College and then graduated from the University of Alabama with a degree in education. She had a career teaching at Memorial Park Elementary School that spanned 29 years. During that time, Bettye earned her Master’s degree from the University of Alabama and was known as one of the premier teachers in the school system. In 1977 Bettye married again and gained a new son, finding once again the happiness that eluded her for so long, until her second husband died suddenly in 1986. She later earned her real estate license, became part owner of All Four Real Estate, and had a successful second career. She is preceded in death by her husbands, Robert Haston Nunnally and Billy Harold Pennington; her parents, Raymond and Edna Johnson Ellis; and her grandparents, Fayette and Hattie Tubbs Johnson, and Frank and Mary Kitchens Ellis. She is survived by her children, Janet Nunnally Wilson (Roger), Timothy Haston Nunnally (Susan), James Carey Pennington (Betsy); grandchildren, Grant Wilson, Patrick Wilson (Jessica), Mary Arden Pennington, and Katherine Pennington; and great grandchildren, Colt Wilson and Mae Wilson. Her grand pups, Wilson, Dice, Brodie, Ben, Lucy, Sherman, and Seamus were always welcome in her home. Bettye loved God and her family above all else and was a faithful member of Sixth Avenue Church of Christ. Her example and influence touched the entire community and she will be greatly missed. Donations in lieu of flowers may be made in her honor at either Sixth Avenue Church of Christ Youth Group, 1501 Sixth Ave. S., Jasper, AL 35501, or the Scholarship Fund of the Worthwhile Study Club, 34 Hill Dr., Parrish, AL 35580.
