Betty Ann Marie Boyd Norman, 94, passed away on September 1, 2026, at Live Oak Senior Care in Montgomery, TX, where she spent the last few years.

A visitation will be held Saturday, October 3, 2026 at Hartman Jones Funeral Home from 5:30 PM until 7:30 PM, continuing Sunday, October 4, 2026 from 1 PM until services at 2 PM. Dr. Larry LeBlanc will officiate and Hartman Jones Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. 

She was born February 17, 1932, in Silsbee, Texas. She was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Hugh “Pete” Norman, Jr., with whom she shared 62 years of marriage; her mother Vivian Angie Phillips Boyd; her father, John Henry “Hank” Boyd; and her sister, Helen Angie Boyd Ritchie.

She is survived by her four children and their spouses: William David Norman and wife, Melody Breeland Norman; Debra Lynn “Debbie” Norman Hollomon and husband, Farrol “Bud” Hollomon, Jr.; Vivian Diane Norman Vance and husband, Tommy Vance; and Dorothy Ann “Dottie” Norman Carlisle and husband, Keith Carlisle. She is also survived by seven grandchildren: Amanda Norman Bladsacker, Ashley Norman Burke, and Spencer Norman; Chris Hollomon, and Cassie Hollomon Ward; Samantha Vance, and Kate Vance; as well as six great-grandchildren: Cole Bladsacker and Reilly Bladsacker; Whitney Burke; Issac Norman and Landry Norman; and Matilda VanDwyer, whom she was blessed to live long enough to know and love.

She graduated from Summit High School in 1949, Southwest MS Junior College (SMJC) in 1951, and MS State University in 1953 with a degree in English. While at SMJC, she was the head Drum Major of the Band and the Editor of the Pine Burr Newspaper, as well as many other leadership roles. Her love for her alma maters was shown by her involvement in the SMJC and MSU Alumni Associations.

Betty and Pete moved many times to numerous locations throughout the south. Finally, they settled on the Norman family homestead outside of Summit, MS, in 1971 and became members of the First Baptist Church in Summit. This became her community, and generations of people there came to know her as a teacher, neighbor, volunteer and friend.

She loved words. She enjoyed reading many types of books, keeping a dictionary close at hand, and considered an unfamiliar word less an obstacle than an opportunity to increase her vocabulary. She was an accomplished writer and editor, and possessed a formidable vocabulary. She appreciated wit, wordplay, puns, and any clever joke.

She had a teaching career that included teaching elementary grades as well as high school. Over the course of her career, she taught hundreds of students to not only appreciate the English language, but how to respect others and enjoy learning.

Those talents did not remain in the classroom. Her children and grandchildren received a continuing education in grammar, manners, communication, citizenship, responsibility, and the proper way to conduct oneself in the world. She believed that being able to express oneself clearly mattered, that one’s word should mean something, and that good manners were more than decoration. She could be a strict disciplinarian, particularly with people in whom she saw promise. Those fortunate enough to receive her correction generally understood that it meant she considered them worth the time and effort. She expected people to do better because she believed they were capable of doing better—and she was rarely shy about furnishing the vocabulary necessary to explain precisely how.

Betty and Pete always had an open door to friends and family and everyone felt welcome to stop by for a visit at any time. If one happened to stop by at suppertime, another plate would be added to the table. God also blessed her a with great ability to cook. She was always trying out new dishes on her family and friends.

She had a beautiful voice, and loved music and dancing. She continued to enjoy dancing for as long as she was physically able, carrying with her throughout life a love of music, company, conversation, and movement.

She lived for 94 years, long enough to see children become grandparents, students become adults, communities change, words fall in and out of fashion and long enough for several generations to discover that she was probably going to correct them when they used those words incorrectly.

Behind the wit and discipline was a woman who believed that people mattered and that raising, teaching, encouraging, welcoming, and befriending them were worthwhile uses of a life.

Her family will remember her as a teacher in every sense of the word: a woman who taught in classrooms, at the dinner table, in living rooms, through example, through expectation, through laughter, and occasionally through a strategically deployed dictionary.

Her legacy will live on in the lives of her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, former students, friends, and the community she served.