OBITUARY: Anna Bess ‘Betsy’ Bennett Kemper, 91, of Marble Falls dies May 15, 2013
Anna Bess “Betsy” Bennett Kemper, 91, of Marble Falls, Texas, passed away May 15, 2013, at her home surrounded by her loving family. Betsy was born Oct. 20, 1921, at her grandmother’s house in Derby, Texas. She was the daughter of Sidney Lionel Bennett and Martha Agnes DeVilbiss.
She attended a two-room schoolhouse in Derby and graduated from Pearsall High School in Pearsall, Texas. She attended Mary Hardin-Baylor and graduated from Southwest Texas State Teachers College in San Marcos.
She met the love of her life and husband of 52 years, George A. Kemper Jr., in the third grade. The two were married Dec. 11, 1943, in Pearsall. George called her his “brown-eyed Suzie.”
After teaching for one year, she started her career as a mother and an Air Force wife. Betsy moved her family 47 times during George’s 26-year military career, which included World War II, the Berlin Airlift, the Cuban Crisis in Bermuda and Vietnam.
The Kemper family came to Marble Falls in 1957 as summer campers. The family developed a recreational vehicle park and campground on Backbone Creek called Kemper’s Korner in 1959 and built a home on the site in 1965.
Betsy was a longtime member of First United Methodist Church. She was the great-granddaughter of John Wesley DeVilbiss, a Methodist circuit-riding preacher who helped establish the Methodist church in the Republic of Texas.
She also was a member of the Highland Lakes Porcelain Arts Guild. Betsy volunteered and helped feed those in need for more than 25 years through the Mission Outreach Ministry program at St. Frederick Baptist Church in Marble Falls. She and George received the Outstanding Citizen Award from the Marble Falls/Lake LBJ Chamber of Commerce in 1991.
Betsy was a loving and devoted wife, mother, sister, grandmother, great-grandmother and friend.
Her memory will be cherished by her brother John DeVilbiss Bennett; sister-in-law JoAnnelle Bennett; four children, George “Butch” Kemper and wife Janice, Charles “Chuck” Kemper and wife Cheri, Betsy Kemper and John Kemper and wife Belinda; and “adopted” son, Rueben Rodriguez and wife Ely. Betsy also is survived by her six granddaughters, Cynthia “Cindy” Foley and husband Dennis, Elizabeth Kemper, Lindsay Plante and husband David, Hanna Curran and husband Edward, Kristin Morrison and husband Jonathan and Celeste Taylor and husband Nathaniel; five great-granddaughters, Taylor, Ella, Grace, Landry and Camille; and one great-grandson, Ryan.
Betsy was preceded in death by her parents, Sidney and Martha Bennett; brothers Sidney Lionel Bennett Jr. and Harry Edward Bennett; and husband, George A. Kemper Jr.
Visitation is 5-7 p.m. May 19 at Clements-Wilcox Funeral Home, 1805 U.S. 281 North in Marble Falls, (830) 693-4373. A funeral service is 10 a.m. May 20 at First United Methodist Church in Marble Falls. A graveside service will follow in Pearsall.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Frederick Baptist Church Mission Outreach Ministry, P.O. Box 812, Marble Falls, TX 78654.