Betty Lou (Donalson) LaFon went to be with our Lord and Savior on September 11, 2021. She was born on August 6, 1934 to Emmit and Juanita (Bean) Donalson, the youngest of four girls. Betty attended the Newport two-room rural grade school and graduated from Golden City High School in the great class of 1951. She married the love of her life, Wayne LaFon in 1952. They lived on his family farm south of Dudenville for 54 years before Wayne’s death in 2006. There they were so blessed with two sons, Lyle and Leslie, and one daughter, Lora.
Betty worked at the Bank of Carthage and Big Smith for 32 years. She loved gardening, cooking for her family, caring for elder family members and spending time with her grandchildren.
Betty was saved and baptized at the age of eleven at Newport Baptist Church in one of those historic revivals of all times. She was a member and elder of the White Oak Presbyterian Church and later attended the First Presbyterian Church of Carthage, MO.
Survivors include her daughter-in-law, Sandy LaFon (wife of her late son Lyle), daughter Lora (Ron) Howerton, son Leslie (Janet) LaFon all of Carthage. She is also survived by three grandsons, Curtis Speer of Carthage, Wesley (Anna) LaFon of Lonoke, AR and John T. Ortner of Webb City, MO: two great-grandchildren, Kaleb LaFon and Grace Ortner and several nieces and nephews from the LaFon and Donalson families.
Preceding her in death were her parents, Emmit Donalson and Jaunita Donalson; husband, Wayne LaFon; son, Llyle LaFon; sisters Lois O’Dea, Viola Yonkers and Helen Scholpp; mother and father-in-law, Travis and Clara LaFon; sisters and brothers-in-law, Bill and Arthamese Gulick, Harold and Imogene Stiles, Merle and Bette LaFon, Winston and Geraldine Nixon, and Maurice and Natalie Wilson; and nieces Neola Knowles, Thelma Stiles, Wilda Wilson and Debra Clark.
Services will be 10:00 a.m. Thursday, September 16, 2021 at the Ulmer Funeral Home Chapel. Visitation will be 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, September 15, 2021 at Ulmer Funeral Home. Burial will be at Dudenville Cemetery, Dudenville, MO. Contributions maybe made to American Cancer Society, Muscular Dystrophy, Diabetes Foundation in care of the Ulmer Funeral Home. Online condolences maybe sent at www.ulmerfh.com. Arrangements are under the direction of the Ulmer Funeral Home.
