Betty Sue Strain, or “Pepper”, as she was known since the day of her birth, joined her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in eternal glory on Thursday, December 3rd, 2020, in her memory care facility in McKinney, TX. Her surviving family rejoice in her memory left behind, in her reunion with her beloved mother and her youngest daughter, and in her restored body, according to His promise that He “will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body,” (Phil 3:21).
Born to Charlie W. Warren and Abbie Jewel Putnam Warren fifteen minutes before midnight on December 31, 1932 in Stamford, TX, as the baby of four daughters, Pepper was raised in Abilene, TX. In Abilene, she attended Abilene High School before graduating from Abilene Christian High School. She married Robert E. Strain in 1949, and together they had four children. Later, as a single mother, she returned to Abilene to raise her children, beginning a long (35 year) career with General Motors Acceptance Corporation, eventually serving as manager of the finance department. The promotion to manager brought her to Dallas, TX, in 1970, where her three younger children finished school. Following her retirement from GMAC, she served for ten years as the accountant for the church where she was also a member, Central Christian Church in Dallas. During her retirement years she also greatly enjoyed her bridge and book clubs (the latter for which she served a term as president) and also enjoyed her routine gatherings with the North Dallas Women in Finance Club (where she also served a term as an officer).
Beyond the church and her club participations, Pepper’s interests revolved around her children (or, more appropriately, her grandchildren). She is survived by three children, Monica Wommack of North Richland Hills, Bob Strain, Jr. and his wife Kathy, of Jamestown, CA, and Don Strain and his wife Brooke, of Plano, and by her sister, Anna King, of Humble, TX. She is also survived by nine grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild, and numerous nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her youngest child, Ginger Manzer, of Dallas, and two sisters, Maureen Lambert of San Angelo and Joyce Francis of Corpus Christi, TX.
A virtual memorial service is planned for Saturday, December 12th, and a later inurnment next to her mother in Abilene will be planned for later next year.