Betty Jo Givens Holt was born in Frederick, Oklahoma on January 4, 1928 to Clarence and Josie Ellen Givens. She was one of 6 children living on the Givens farm and her siblings preceded her in death including her parents and the love of her life, John Gerald Holt. She attended a one room school in Fairview, Oklahoma then went on to Manitou High School where she graduated in 1945. After graduation, her family sold the farm and moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma. She went on to attend Oklahoma A&M College where she studied accounting. In 1947, after receiving her Associate Degree, she moved to Oklahoma City and married Johnny Holt. Although they lived in several houses throughout their life, they never left "The City" as they called it.
She is survived by four loving children, Connie Hughes and husband Weldon, Bruce Holt and wife Janice, Gary Holt and wife Peggy, and Edwin Holt and wife Danelle. She has eight grandchildren, Carey Arrington, Leigh Bloskovich, Leticia Molano, Kyle Holt, Erin Zook, Travis Holt, Timothy Holt and Jonathan Holt. She has 11 great grandchildren and many other loving nieces and nephews.
Betty worked at Tinker Field until Connie was born and stayed home to raise her family until Edwin started high school. She started work at Radiology Group in 1977 where she remained until she retired 11 years later.
Betty and Johnny enjoyed fishing, camping, and traveling across the country in their RV. They had many friends and family who enjoyed spending weekends at Lake Eufaula or Lake Tenkiller. They also cherished their church friends at Geraldine Church of Christ and Cherokee Hills Church of Christ. They enjoyed many 42 domino parties and church dinners with large fish fry's for the group. Betty was famous for her fish fry's where she always made the best fried okra in town. She was a wonderful Christian woman and raised all her children to love the Lord and attend church regularly as a family. She taught bible school, vacation bible school and provided food for many people over the years of her life with her excellent cooking. She and her husband helped build Geraldine Church of Christ.
She was an avid cook, gardener, and loved to sew. One of family cooking traditions was to make "pepper nuts" and peanut brittle each Christmas -and her peanut brittle was always referred to as "the best one ever tasted". She was active in her church as a bible school teacher for many years and active in ladies' bible classes. She loved to "cruise" and took many cruises with Johnny and even by herself when he was no longer able to accompany her. She was an active member of an organization called TOPS, acting as president of her chapter, and continued to encourage others to lose weight sensibly as she did.
She was a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother, and care-giver to her husband, children, and grandchildren. After a long battle with health issues and dementia, she died on November 2, 2016 at the age of 88.
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