Betty L. Scoones, 80, Erie, died Tuesday, June 24, 2008, at Labette Health in Parsons.

She was born Aug. 13, 1927, in rural Stark to Richard F. and Hazel E. Hobson Vanderford. She attended school in rural Erie and began attending Erie District schools in fourth grade. In 1945, she graduated from Erie High School, Erie’s smallest graduating class in history with 13 students. The Class of ’45 genuinely looked forward to attending their yearly reunions.

In 1946, she graduated from business school in Kansas City. She and her family moved to Calexico, Calif., where she worked for a telephone company.

She and Vernon W. Scoones were married July 9, 1948, in Yuma, Ariz. He died in 1991.

The couple moved to Brawley, Calif., after marriage where she became a supervisor for a phone company. In 1953 they moved to El Centro, Calif., and upon retirement in 1973, moved to the Ozarks. During retirement, they loved to travel around the country visiting family and friends.

After the death of her husband, she returned to Erie to be close to family. She was an avid reader and a huge fan of the PGA; rarely, did she miss watching a tournament on TV. Most of all, she cherished any time she could spend with family and friends.

Survivors include three daughters and two sons-in-law, Michaelene “Micki” and Homer “Abe” Alexander, Holdenville, Okla., Teresa “Teri” and Dale Purdy, Erie, and Jacquelyn “Jacki” Rightmer, Pocahontas, Iowa; two grandchildren, Vernon Alexander and his wife Aubrey, and Sarah Rightmer; a brother and sister-in-law, William R. and Louise Vanderford, Tucson, Ariz.; a sister and brother-in-law, Donna M. and Meldon Strickland, Erie; a niece and nephew-in-law, Debbie and Kendall Smith, and their family; and a nephew and niece-in-law, Mike and Jackie Strickland, and their family.

Funeral will be 3 p.m. Friday at East Hill Cemetery, rural Erie, under the direction of Forbes-Hoffman Funeral Home, Parsons.

Visitation will be 5 to 7 p.m. today at the home of her daughter and son-in-law, Teri and Dale Purdy, 509 N. Lincoln, Erie, with a patio gathering of friends and family.

Contributions to the Erie Federated Church or Harry Hynes Memorial Hospice may be made in care of the funeral home, P.O. Box 374, Parsons, KS 67357.