Elizabeth “Betty” Louise Bell Chesnut, 73, of Huntsville, passed away peacefully at home on February 13, 2022.
Betty grew up on her family’s farm in Gaylesville, Alabama. She graduated from Gaylesville High School in 1968. She earned her bachelor’s degree in education in 1972 at Jacksonville State University, where the student body elected her “Miss Jacksonville State”. Betty joined the Phi Mu sorority where she met many lifelong friends. She furthered her education and career at Alabama A&M University by earning her master’s degree in education.
Betty taught first and second grade at Gordo Elementary School in Pickens County and at University Place School in Huntsville. Betty also started, operated, and owned her own plant supply company, Botanical Design, Inc. Prior to her retirement, she coordinated events at the Early Works Children’s Museum. As a member of the Junior League of Huntsville, she served our community and fostered numerous friendships. She served as an MYF youth coordinator with her husband and was a member of the Strugglers Sunday School Class at the First United Methodist Church. A shrewd bridge player, Betty enjoyed laughing with friends and family, taking road trips to the beach, and spending time with her children at the fields at Mayfair Park . Though not a ball player herself, Betty volunteered, along with a few of her good friends, to coach her daughter’s t-ball team. In recent years, she cherished the time that she spent with each of her grandchildren.
She is survived by her husband of 49 years, Richard Earl Chesnut whom she loved since first grade, her son, Richard Patrick Chesnut; her daughter, Lauren Chesnut Lowe (Carl), her six grandchildren, Caroline Bell Chesnut, Richard Patrick Chesnut, Jr., Anna Louise Chesnut, Ruth Sanders Chesnut, James Ellis Chesnut, and Elizabeth “Betsy” Chesnut Lowe, sisters, Ann Bell Ledbetter (Stanley) and Ellen Bell Limbaugh (Malley), and 11 nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, Robert Terry Bell and Helen Frances Webster Bell, and by her beloved great aunts, Louise Partlow Miller Drake and Lois “Ease” Partlow Pierce.
Memorials may be made to the First United Methodist Church.
The family will hold a memorial service at 1:00 PM on Friday, February 25, at First United Methodist Church in Huntsville with the Rev. Coy Hallmark and Pastor Ryan Limbaugh officiating.
