Elizabeth J. McCarron

1937 - 2011

Elizabeth McCarron

Elizabeth J. "Betty" McCarron, nee Cunningham, 73, of Swansea, Ill., born July 24, 1937, in St. Louis, Mo., died Friday, May 20, 2011, at her residence after a lengthy battle with cancer.

Mrs. McCarron was the manager of the Pyramid Hallmark Store in Belleville, Ill., before her retirement. She was a member of St. Teresa Catholic Church, Belleville, Ill., and a former member of Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church and the Ladies Sodality at Queen of Peace.

Betty was a 1955 graduate of Cleveland High School in St. Louis, Mo., and a 60-year member of her St. Louis grade school girls club. She spent many years at the Fox Theater as an usher for the Sunday matinees. Betty was a member of the Egyptian Girls, served as a Girl Scout leader, and volunteered for Project Rachel and the Violence Prevention Center Shelter Shop. She was a member of Club I and Club II of Belleville, a member of the Ravenel Homeowners Association, and a past president of the Precious Moments Club.

Betty was preceded in death by her husband of 38 years, Kenneth E. McCarron, whom she married Jan. 14, 1956, and who died Sept. 8, 1995; her parents, John W. and Elizabeth, nee Williams, Cunningham; and a brother-in-law, Stanley McCarron.

Surviving are two sons and a daughter, Michael C. (Wendy) McCarron of Columbia, Ill., David J. (Lynn) McCarron of Orlando, Fla., and Diane E. McCarron and her husband, George, of Belleville, Ill.; seven grandchildren, Jason and Kyle McCarron, Danielle and Dana Fleshren, Ian and Melanie McCarron, and Kelsey Pugh; two brothers, Theodore (Ann) Cunningham of Affton, Mo., and Edward A. Cunningham of the Lebanon Terrace Group Home, Lebanon, Ill.; a sister-in-law, Alita McCarron of Belleville, Ill.; nieces and nephews; and a special friend, Calvin Weik of Swansea, Ill.

Betty had more BFF's (best friends forever) whom she truly loved than anyone we know.

Betty was a loving, caring, and generous wife, mother, grandmother. She was a best friend to her children and her many friends. She was an inspiration to her family and to those whose lives she met along the way. She was dearly loved and will be sadly missed by all of us. Betty was a woman of a thousand friends, and she never met a canine she didn't like.

Betty's family would like to give special thanks to her caregivers, neighbors, and friends, especially Martha, Margie, and Ann. Thanks also to Johnnie, Kathy, and Tina of Heartland Hospice, to Pastor Ann, and to her "doggie nurses," Chloe and Laci.

Memorials may be made to the Lebanon Terrace Group Home in Lebanon, Ill., to Heartland Hospice, or to The Shelter Shop. Condolences may be expressed to the family online at www.rennerfh.com.

Visitation: Friends may call from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday, May 23, 2011, at George Renner & Sons Funeral Home, Belleville, Ill. A closing prayer ritual will be held at 7:45 p.m. Monday at the funeral home.

Funeral: Funeral procession will leave at 9:10 a.m. Tuesday, May 24, 2011, from George Renner & Sons Funeral Home, Belleville, Ill., for a 9:30 a.m. Mass of Christian Burial at St. Teresa Catholic Church, Belleville, Ill., with Father David M. Darin officiating. Burial will be at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, St. Louis, Mo.

GEORGE RENNER & SONS FUNERAL HOME, Belleville, Ill.