ChristinaCD: Thank you, I appreciate that so much.

MostlySunny: I am so sorry you have had so many losses in your world lately.

auburn60: I had no idea you had never actually met Betty! She talked about you like you had known each other for a while– of course, I felt that way about her before we ever actually met face to face, too! You’re right, she was the one to call when prayer was needed. Thank you for writing so beautifully about her.

I’ve wanted to say something about Betty, but wanted to wait until I had time to sit down and really think it through.

I was also one of the many who thought Betty would pull through this. I was shocked when I got Momma Lloyd’s e-mail last week saying that she had gone home. I was getting on a plane in Boston and had not kept up with my mail or Betty’s care page so did not know how weak she had gotten.

I never met Betty face-to-face. I saw her at Gaither functions but we had never been formally introduced. Didn’t matter. Betty was part of a group of women (Momma Lloyd, LindaB, and Tori being the others) who could storm Heaven in prayer. Together we have prayed babies through surgeries, families through crises and each other through-well-life. I never hesitated to ask Betty to pray. I knew her direct line to God was one of the strongest options I had.

Once I sent Betty a link to my newly formed blog. She sent me back positive comments and some encouragement. I replied that I knew I was ‘no Tori Taff’ but liked writing about what I know. She shot back immediately with this gem: ‘God doesn’t ask you to be a TT, we already have one of those. He just wants you to be the best Alyson you can. ‘

Betty forgave me my earlier taste in music, which leaned toward heavy metal when I was young, because she figured if I had discovered Russ Taff I had surely ‘seen the light’. And that was the end of any discussion of that matter.

She and I spent one ENTIRE day looking on-line for a platter that had gotten broken at Thanksgiving and she wanted to replace it. I became obsessed with finding this platter based on her description and picture. We exchanged e-mails ALL DAY with pictures and companies to look at for this very detailed platter. I’m happy to report that we found the manufacturer but I never knew if she bought one to replace it. I guess I’ll never know.

If I remember correctly, Betty said at one time that she loved the color green and magnolia flowers. I hope she has a mansion filled with both. I hope in the Heavenly concerts she now gets to hear in person that George, Vestal, Anthony and all the rest don’t get tired of hearing about Russ. : ) I hope she has the whole place organized by the time the rest of us get there.

Godspeed, my friend.

Tori – Thank you for sharing her life with us. So much I didn’t know; what a fun lady! She will be missed.

We’ve had so much death and grief in our church lately – 4 funerals this coming week! And 2 in the last month. God promised us today, and that He would be faithful. I’m counting on it (and Him).

I have never had the opportunity to talk to or meet Betty. You have done a WONDERFUL job at describing her. My prayers are with you, Russ and Betty’s family during this time

I’ve thought of so many stories about something Betty has said or done in the last week that I thought I’d said it all, but I thought of yet one more thing about our friend—–she didn’t accept the phrase, “That’s impossible, Betty”! Or “You just can’t do that”!! If you said that to Betty, it was like a dose of vitamins for her! I remember when she decided she was going to book a bunch of concert dates with Russ Taff one summer. I thought to myself, “Holy cow! She’s gone right over the edge! It’s straight-jacket time with men in white coats and pretty pink pills!” I tried to talk her out of it. I tried to reason with her, “Betty, you’ve never booked concerts or promoted concerts ever in your whole life, have you? It’s harder than you think! You just can’t do that!” She shrugged me off and said, “Well, I don’t think there’s anything to it.” And she went ahead and did it! She booked one whole weekend around the Richmond area for Russ to sing in various churches. And I mean one right after another! And she asked me to go with her to help her. (LOL! Like she needed anyone to “help” her! I think she just wanted to show me it could be done!) And I went. (Hey, a whole weekend of hearing Russ Taff sing can’t be bad, right?) Well, Russ sang his socks off, the churches were thrilled—-especially the smaller churches that never thought they’d be able to have a Grammy-winning performer of Russ Taff’s caliper at their little church! One little such church had a gathering of young people standing outside waiting for him and had “marked” a spot on the gravel parking lot with a homemade sign that said, “Reserved for Russ Taff”! He sang for over two solid hours at EVERY stop! And then she had booked a concert at one of those mega-churches with the huge choir and orchestra on Sunday morning, and Russ did a fantastic job—-everyone there was thoroughly impressed with him! And all the while we are running from church to church and city to city, Betty was absolutely beaming! I’ve never seen her so happy! She was in her element! On our way back to the hotel Saturday night we passed a billboard sign advertising a food bank for the homeless. I, being the whimp that I am, was exhausted and hungry! We had not eaten since breakfast and it was 11 at night! I asked her if we could please stop at the foodbank and make a withdrawal! She laughed and said, “Oh! I guess we didn’t eat yet, did we?” She was not hungry because that was her sustenance——taking the blessing of hearing Russ sing to so many churches in one weekend that never dreamed they could have him, and seeing them enjoy it so much! I would be whining that I was tired and hungry, but she would just grin and talk about how she wished the weekend would never end! I didn’t think she could do it, but she did! And with flair! I treasure that weekend with our Betty! She showed me how it was done, she taught me to NEVER think Betty Morris can’t do something—-and for goodness sakes, don’t tell her that!……. and if you REALLY REALLY love what you’re doing, you don’t need to eat.