NORMAN — Betty Ann (Elizabeth) Rooker passed away Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012, in Norman at the age of 88. She was born Feb. 25, 1924, in Shawnee to Irene and Leo Gully.
Funeral services will be 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Westside Church of Christ, 726 McGee Drive in Norman. Burial will follow at the Dale Cemetery in Dale.
She attended Jefferson School. Betty Ann graduated from Shawnee High School in 1941. She said she felt so honored when her senior classmates voted her to represent them in the basketball queen contest. She attended Texas State College for Women and Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee.
While the love of her life, Billy R. Rooker, was flying his combat missions out of England in the European theater of operations, she worked at J.C. Penney, while she and other employees worked to sell war bonds. Billy returned Aug. 11, 1944, after completing 31 bombing missions. They were married the next day, Aug. 12, 1944. They spent a year in Kingman and Douglas, Ariz. He was released from the service Aug. 2, 1945, to fly for Pan American World Airways in Miami. She loved Miami and thought it was such a wonderful place to live and raise a family. For 16 years while her sons were in school, she worked in the PTA, having every office from reporter to president. She was always a room mother for at least one room and sometimes for two at a time. She helped every week in the bookstore and with all of the carnivals, etc. She was also a Cub Scout Den Mother. After 26 years with the airline, Billy retired. She was so grateful for all of the opportunities that Pan American gave them and all of the foreign countries they were able to visit and had so many good memories.
They moved to Ada in 1971, where she was a member of the Central Church of Christ. They traveled to Florida and south Texas in the winter and visited national parks in the West and Canada in the summer. She wanted everyone to know that she had the most wonderful life. There was always a surprise, and it would be something that she had never thought of or even dreamed could happen to her.
After 37 years in Ada, Billy passed away June 22, 2008. They had 64 years together. She moved to Norman to be near family. She is a member of the Westside Church of Christ, where she met so many nice people and was so glad to worship with them.
She is survived by her three sons and their wives, Bruce and Becky Rooker of Norman, Richard and Samantha Rooker of Jacksonville, Fla., and Douglas and Mona Rooker of Deland, Fla.; grandchildren Suzanne and Caroline Rooker, Cory Rooker, Tausha Ford, Lexi Moran, Joshua and Matthew Rooker; six great-grandchildren; two sisters, Wanda Green of Norman and Michaela Hooper and her husband Paul of Tuttle; sisters-in-law Betty Dinkins, Shawnee, Marcille Hinkle and her husband Armond of St. Louis and Shirley Steehler and her husband Ted of Tuscon, Ariz.; many nieces and nephews and their children, who were all near and dear to her.
Arrangements are being handled by Walker Funeral Services, 201 E. 45th in Shawnee.
Norman Transcript, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2012
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