Betty Lorene McCall

Betty Cyrus McCall went to be with her Heavenly Father on Saturday, October 20, 2018, at age 88. She passed away peacefully at home after a long illness surrounded by her daughter, son-in-law, and the wonderful nurses that provided her daily care.

Funeral services are Friday, October 26, 2018, at 2:00 PM at Elkland Christian Church. Visitation will be 1-2 p.m. Friday before services at the church. Interment at Pleasant View Cemetery, Elkland, MO. Pastor Eric Chism officiating. Funeral services provided by Fraker Funeral Home of Marshfield, MO.

Betty was born April 19, 1930, in Macks Creek, Missouri to parents Bertha Eidson and William Valentine Cyrus and was the youngest of ten children. The first one to attend college, Betty remembered her father crying as he walked her up the steps to register for classes at Southwest Missouri State Teachers College, now SMSU. She met Bob McCall when he traveled to Macks Creek to buy cattle. While in  Macks Creek, Bob stopped for lunch at a little café where Betty worked as a waitress. They got acquainted while playing shuffleboard later that same day. Betty joined the McCall Family when she married Bobbie Hoover McCall on October 28, 1950, and moved to Elkland, MO. Together they built a successful dairy replacement heifer business selling cattle to dairies locally and nationwide. Betty taught elementary school for one year in a one room school house near Macks Creek and after her move to Elkland, she taught another two years in the Elkland school and often substituted when needed. Betty was known for her keen eye for decorating which she shared with her daughter, Cindy. Betty could take the plainest piece of old furniture and turn it into an heirloom. Her house was a testament, room by room, to that skill and interest. Betty was also known for her landscaping and gardening. Betty’s favorite pallet was the home she and her husband built north of Elkland. It was her labor of love to work outside to create and maintain the 9 acre manicured lawns and gardens well into her mid-eighties. Her pride and joy was a rock springhouse built over an active spring that fed into her catfish pond and cascaded down a landscaped rocky path across the lawn and into an adjoining creek. Betty often hosted family get-togethers and cook-outs there under the many mature shade trees she planted years ago.

 Betty loved being a McCall and cherished the closeness of family that we all continue to share today. She was especially close to her mother-in-law, Georgia Case McCall, whom she aspired to emulate and whom she never lived more than a mile from since joining the family.

Betty’s family often paid her this tribute: ‘She was one of the kindest and sweetest persons we have known and who was greatly loved and cherished by all that knew her. Her passing is both a celebration of a life well-lived as it is a time of deep sorry for the family, friends, and community that loved her.

 Betty is survived by her daughter, Cynthia McCall Melton, her son-in-law, Stan Melton both of Springfield, MO; two grandchildren, Nelson Paul of Scottsdale, Arizona and Taylor of Springfield; a sister, Mary Lee Wheeler, of Marionville, MO. Betty was preceded in death by brothers Floyd, Arley, Wade, Finnis (Buck), and Lesley, and Sisters Flossy, Eythel, and Edith. In Lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Betty McCall’s name to Elkland Christian Church for use in community support outreach programs.