Betty Loyd Rice, 78, previously of Logansport, LA, passed away peacefully in her home surrounded by family on August 3, 2022, in Lufkin, Texas.
Visitation for family and friends will be held on Saturday, August 6, 2022, from 6-8 pm at Mangum Funeral Home. Funeral services to also be held at Mangum Funeral Home on Sunday, August 7, 2022, at 2 pm. Interment will follow at Strong Cemetery, Huxley, Texas.
Betty was born on June 18, 1944, in Center, Texas, to the late Loyd Franklin Heath and Syble Melinda Chambliss Heath. Betty graduated from Mansfield High School, moved to Houston, and married Medford D. Rice in 1975. She worked as an engineering clerk, retiring from Southwestern Bell in 2001. Upon retirement, Betty moved to the Woodsprings community outside Logansport, Louisiana. Betty enjoyed her passion for garage and estate sales, always looking to purchase items to benefit others. She loved playing her games “Trouble, “Farkle,” and checkers with her grandchildren. She also enjoyed the outdoors, riding her side-by-side around the neighborhood and visiting and checking on her friends and family. She named the cows and donkeys in the pastures, spoiling them with hand-pulled grass clumps and corn for the deer. The musical tones of her many windchimes were a joy to hear. At the same time, her favorite color was yellow, and her favorite sports team was the Shreveport Hoopaholics, a senior basketball team. Her dog “Sugar” was her ever-present companion.
Left behind to cherish her memories are her daughter, Theresa, and husband BJ Anderson; stepdaughters, Debbie, Sherry and stepson, Doyle Rice; grandsons Heath Oliver, Blake Oliver, and wife Haleigh, Chase Oliver and wife Ashley, granddaughters Melanie Rice Barrios and husband Guadalupe Rodriguez and Amanda Anderson. Betty will also be missed by her great-grandchildren, Mason, Lainey, Nickala, Colt, Aubrey, Jade, Adalyn, Ayden, Benson, Arianna, Zach, and Noah; sister Marti Stone and husband Greg; numerous nieces and nephews; and a host of family and friends including special friends Lin Gamble, and Pat and Bill Green and preceded in death by her husband, Medford Rice, father Loyd Heath, mother Syble Chambliss Heath, sisters, Virginia Streetman and Marjorie Heath, and brother, Robert Loyd Heath.
Honoring Betty as pallbearers will be her grandsons, nephews and other family members.