Betty Richie

SHREVEPORT, LA - Delaney Elizabeth (Betty) Woodall Richie died on May 23, 2018 at the age of 92. A graveside service will be held at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, May 30, 2018, at Forest Park Cemetery, 3700 St. Vincent Ave. The Reverend Kenneth W. Paul, Rector Emeritus of Holy Cross Episcopal Church will officiate. Pursuant to Betty's wishes, her body was cremated and her ashes will be buried next to those of her beloved husband, John. A reception will follow at the offices of Richie, Richie & Oberle, L.L.P., 1800 Creswell Ave. She was preceded in death by her parents, Delaney Roney Woodall and Sidney Webb Woodall, two sisters, Jean Marabella and Frances Danos, two brothers Sidney Woodall, Jr. and Charles Woodall, her husband, John A. Richie, who died in 2002, and a son, Winston Gregg Richie, who died as an infant. She is survived by three sons, Vernon Richie and wife Lillian, Allen Richie, and Byron Richie and wife Laurel; six grandchildren, Collin Richie and wife Janay, Sarah Jackson and husband Justin, Jonathan Arc and wife Molly, Margaret Gaskins and husband William, Jillian McAlpin and husband Joe, and Corey Richie; two great-grandchildren, Moxie and Brauhn Arc; two brothers, John O. Woodall and wife Liz and Patrick R. Woodall; brother-in-law, Lloyd Danos; and numerous nieces and nephews. Betty graduated from C.E. Byrd High School in 1943. Thereafter she attended and graduated from Northwestern State College in Natchitoches. While at Northwestern she served as president of Alpha Sigma Alpha Sorority. After graduating from Northwestern, she briefly taught elementary school in Eunice Louisiana before marrying her high school boyfriend, John, and moving to Baton Rouge where John was attending Louisiana State University Law School. While in Baton Rouge she worked as a draftsman for the Louisiana Department of Highways. After she and John moved to Shreveport in 1951 for John to establish his law practice, she went to work for Ohio Oil Company (now Marathon Oil) as its first female draftsman. Thereafter, she worked as the secretary for St. Paul's Episcopal Church, and later as office manager of the family law firm, a position that she maintained until she was in her late eighties. Betty was truly a remarkable person. She was fiercely independent and a liberated woman long before women's liberation. Once she put her mind to it, there was truly nothing that she could not accomplish. Although naturally left-handed, while working as a draftsman she taught herself to be ambidextrous and could proficiently draw a map with either hand. She was a self-taught carpenter, plumber, and electrician, whose talents rivaled those of most craftsmen in those trades. Her command of the English language was unrivaled. For years, every night before going to bed she would read and study one page of Webster's Dictionary, over time literally reading it from cover to cover and learning every word contained therein. Her favorite author was Rudyard Kipling, and even in her nineties she could still recite Kipling poems from memory. Betty became a biblical scholar after developing a passion for biblical archeology in her late forties. In pursuit of that passion she learned to speak and read Hebrew. She then embarked on an archeological dig in the Middle East, spending two summers there. During each of those adventures she crossed the Sinai on the back of a camel, camped with Bedouin nomads, bunked at a Kibbutz, and participated in the archeological dig of an Iron Age tomb. Betty will be missed by all who knew her. The family extends special thanks to Beverly Dixon, Christina Falcon, Jazlyn Loveless, and Tomeka Simmons who cared for her in the last months of life. In lieu of flowers, please honor Betty's love of animals with a contribution to the Humane Society of Northwest Louisiana, 2544 Linwood Ave., Shreveport, LA 71103 or Robinson's Rescue Spay-Neuter, 2515 Line Ave., Shreveport, LA 71104.