Mrs. Betty Jean Sopher Whitley, age 86, a resident of Burlington, N.C. died Monday, February 21, 2011 at Alamance Regional Hospital in Burlington, N.C.
Funeral services will be held 11:00 a.m. Friday, February 25, 2011 at the Chapel of Paul Funeral Home, Washington. Burial will follow in Oakdale Cemetery, Washington, N.C.
The following will serve as pallbearers: Heber Whitley III, William John Whitley, John Gregory Meyer, John Patrick Meyer, John Thurston Whitley, and Milton Henry Parra III.
Mrs. Whitley was born in Oskaloosa, Iowa on June 13, 1924. She was the daughter of the late Jesse Rolland Sopher and Maude Lillian Sauls Sopher. Mrs. Whitley was a member of the Trinity Presbyterian Church and the JOY Ladies Group of the church. She was a retired office manager of the Regional Counsel’s Office of the Internal Revenue Service in Greensboro. Mrs. Whitley was also a member of the Professional Office Managers Group.
On July 16, 1943, Mrs. Whitley married Heber Thurston Whitley II, who survives.
Heber and Betty Whitley helped raise the five children of Marion Eugene Whitley, and Virginia Whitley, after Marion, Heber’s brother, met with an early death. Surviving with her husband are the five children that were like their own: Eugene Francis Whitley of Raleigh, Heber Thurston Whitley of Lake Wylie, S.C. and William John Whitley of Charlotte, N.C. and their sisters, Marlene Marie Chernitsky of Union City, Pa., and Betty Lee Meyer of Alexandria, Va. She is also fortunate to have surviving nephews from James Henry Whitley, Heber’s other brother, Jay Whitley and David Scott Whitley as well as many nieces and nephews from her sister, Estella Johnson and her brother Jay Sopher.
In addition to her parents, Mrs. Whitley was preceded in death by two brothers, Jay Rolland Sopher and Jack Leland Sopher; and one sister and brother-in-law, Estelle Mae Sopher Johnson and George M. Johnson.
The family will receive friends from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Thursday, February 24, 2011 at Paul Funeral Home, Washington.
Online condolences may be sent to the family by visiting www.paulfuneralhome.com, and donations can be made to the Trinity Presbyterian Church, 101 East Gate Drive, Elon, NC 27244-9272, www.trinitypresbyterianchurch.org.
Paul Funeral Home of Washington is honored to serve the Whitley family.
Paid Obituary