Betty Mae Glenn

Betty Mae Glenn (née Heavens), 96, born in Cliftonville, MS on January 01, 1927, to Fannie H. Robertson and father unknown, transitioned painlessly on October 09, 2023, with her daughter, Gay, by her side.
Betty Mae graduated from high school at the age of 15 and then attended Brown Mackie College, a business school. She worked for 2 years in Detroit at an airplane factory before returning to Birmingham, where she met her future husband, William E. Glenn, Sr. She worked as a salesclerk at Crosby Department store, here in Topeka, where she also taught knitting to the women who shopped there. For her career as a Licensed Mental Health Technician, she worked at the prestigious Menninger Foundation. After a bad fall that kept her from Menninger's, she recreated herself by working at Merchants National Bank, first as a teller, later in the Stocks Department. She later returned to the medical field, this time in an administrative role, first at Stormont Vail, then at Valeo.
Additionally, Betty Mae helped campaign to have Mental Health Workers certified by the State of Kansas; with the Kansas Legislature finally passing a bill making that certification the Law. She helped the campaign to get Central Park Community Center built, as well as helped turn the old Buchana School into the community resource center it is today. She ran for mayor of the city of Topeka, coming in third, and was a Notary Public. Together with her husband, until his passing in 1997, she ran the Countryside Real Estate Agency, at one point amassing at least 9 properties, 4 of which she held even as she lived into her 90s!
When not tirelessly campaigning for the betterment of her community, Betty Mae was bettering her own neck of the woods. She was an avid gardener, her yard beautifully and bountifully demonstrating the prowess of her green thumb. She knitted and crocheted, almost always having her knitting bag with her while she waited in whatever line – and especially when she took her 6 children to the doctors' offices - and produced many gorgeous full-size afghans that she leaves behind for family and friends. In her 70's she took up pottery, and produced some pretty creations, all bearing her carved initials on their bottoms: BMG
She is survived by her sister Mattie T. Powell, six children: William E. Glenn, Jr., Tareyton L. (Terry) Glenn, Llewellyn A. (Lee) Glenn, Candy A. R. Glenn, Gay M. Glenn, and Glenn P. Glenn, three grandchildren and scores of great-grandchildren and relatives.
I thank St. Croix Hospice for coming so quickly when we called, and most especially Joanna C. our hospice nurse who guided both Betty Mae and me (Gay) through my mom's final days, and who summons angels with her prayers.