Bettye Fell

Bettye Jean Dickey Fell passed from this life into heaven on January 19, 2023 in Carlsbad, New Mexico. 

She was born in Denison TX on June 24, 1925 to John A. and Mary E. Dickey.  Her parents moved to Ft. Worth, TX in May, 1925 where her father served as minister to the South Side Church of Christ for 8 ½ years.  They moved to Gladewater in East Texas when it was a booming oil town and almost every back yard had an oil derrick. They moved to Dallas in 1937, then to Kilgore, TX, also an oil boom town. 

The family moved to Shreveport, LA where Bettye graduated from high school in 1942 and got her first job as a legal secretary when she was just 17.  They moved to San Antonio TX where she worked for the Texas Highway Department and where she met and married her husband, Marvin, in 1946.  His employment took them to Temple, TX where their sons, David and Don, were born in Scott and White Hospital.

Marvin was in business for himself most of their years in Temple, but when they went to visit friends in Silver City, NM in 1955, they fell in love with the country and lived there where Marvin worked for the mines until 1982. 

That year they moved to Morenci, AZ where Marvin fulfilled his long-time desire to preach for the Church of Christ and where he passed away on January 25, 1987.  Bettye, and her mother, who lived with them for nine years, moved back to Silver City where she lived until 2018.  At the age of 93 she decided to move to the Lakeview Christian Home in Carlsbad, where she passed away peacefully with family present on January 19, 2023. 

She was a faithful and dedicated member of the Church of Christ since 1935, and was also an active member of the Widowed Persons Service since 1988. 

Bettye was well known for her ability to make anyone feel welcome in her home, in the church, or any other gathering of people.  Her kindness and gracious ways made everyone feel that they “belonged”.  She was also an accomplished artist and many friends and family have a painting that she generously gifted to them. 

Bettye was preceded in death by her husband of 40 years, Marvin J. Fell, Jr., her parents, her brother, J.A. Dickey Jr. and his wife Opal, and great-grandson, Joseph Marvin Fell.  

She is survived by two sons, David Alan (Madeleine JP) Fell, and Don Marvin (Patricia) Fell; four grandchildren, Jeffrey Marvin (Tenisha) Fell, Wendy Maureen Torres (Carlos), Leon Andrew (Catherine) Fell, and Wesley Alan Fell; thirteen great-grandchildren: Stephanie, Cole, Brandon, Courtney and Dalton Torres; Cursten, Koda, and Weston Fell; Madeleine Anne Fell; and Sadie, Wyatt, Cody, and Gracie Fell; three great, great grandchildren:  Estella and Elias Torres and Kase Fell; and one nephew John (Myra) Dickey.

Cremation has taken place at Denton-Wood Funeral Home in Carlsbad, NM.  A private burial of her ashes will be held for the family where she will be placed with her husband in the Ft. Bayard National Cemetery.  A Celebration of her life will take place at the Silver City Church of Christ (1920 Little Walnut Rd., Silver City, NM) on February 17, 2023 at 11:30 am.  In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in memory of Bettye to the Lakeview Christian Home (www.lakeviewchristian.com)