Betty Lou Thomas, 86, rural Heyworth, went home to be with the Lord Thursday (Nov. 6, 2014) at her residence.

Her funeral will be 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at Calvert & Metzler Memorial Home, Bloomington, with the Rev. Danny McCubbins officiating. Burial will follow at Randolph Township Memorial Cemetery, Heyworth. Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday at the memorial home.

Memorials may be made to the food pantry Ministry & More, 1107 W. Empire St., Bloomington, IL 61701.

Betty was born Oct. 27, 1928, in Normal, a daughter of George Stanley and Alta Orendorff Downs. She married Johnny B. Thomas Jr. on Sept. 11, 1949, at the Methodist Church, Heyworth. He died Aug. 29, 2011.

Survivors include two sons, John Arthur Thomas and Richard Wayne Thomas, both of Heyworth; and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents, three brothers and five sisters.

She earned a two-year teaching degree from Illinois State Normal University. Betty formerly worked for State Farm Insurance Cos. in downtown Bloomington and later as a nurse's aide at both Mennonite Hospital and St. Joseph Hospital in Bloomington.

Betty was a member of the Letitia Green Stevenson Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. She taught Sunday school at Evangelical United Brethren Church in the 1960s and at Evangelical Free Church, both in Bloomington, in the 1970s and 1980s.

Betty loved the Lord very much and encouraged all she met to have a strong relationship with the Lord.