Betty J. Houston

We have different gifts, according to His grace given to us…if it is teaching, let him teach. Romans 12:7

On December 6, 2025, Mrs. Betty J. Houston of Blakely taught her final lesson on earth. Surrounded by loved ones and sustained by her faith, she died peacefully on Saturday, December 6, at the Southeast Medical Center in Dothan, Alabama.

Mrs. Houston’s family will remember Life Lessons from our Teacher on Monday, December 15, at 2 p.m., at First Baptist Church of Blakely, with the Reverend Keith Alderman officiating. A special section of the church will be reserved for former students of Mrs. Houston, and time will be set aside during the service for students to share Mrs. Houston’s greatest lessons. Visitation will be Sunday, December 14, at Manry Jordan Hodges Funeral Home from 3-5 p.m. Interment will follow the service at the Blakely Cemetery.

Elizabeth Ann Jackson Houston was born on June 19, 1928, in Culloden, Georgia, the eldest of three children. Her childhood unfolded in a 100-year-old colonial home surrounded by the fields of a 500-acre farm. Alongside her devoted parents, an elderly aunt and uncle helped fill the household with family stories and gentle guidance. The Jackson children grew up with a deep appreciation for the wisdom and kindness that age brings. Betty’s parents nurtured her faith in God as the family served faithfully in Russellville Baptist Church. Mrs. Houston often spoke of her desire for her faith in Christ to guide her thoughts, beliefs, actions, and goals. She stated that though she often fell short, she knew Christ could be depended on to forgive her and strengthen her.

After being home-schooled by her mother for her pre-school years, Betty entered Culloden Elementary School, skipping 1st and 4th grades, and in 1943 graduated with honors from Mary Persons High School at age 14. Four years later, at age 18, she graduated magna cum laude from Tift College, a Baptist college for women (now part of Mercer University) with a double major in Home Economics Education and Speech.

Betty’s roommate at Tift College was Blakely native, Maxine Moody. Both Home Economics majors, the women, wanted to start their teaching careers together. They accepted jobs in Early County, with Betty taking the position at Hilton High School and Maxine at Blakely High. After a year, Betty moved to Blakely High School (Early County High), where she remained for the rest of her teaching career.

In 1948, Betty married Early County businessman and war hero Charlie Houston, and they began a 50-year marriage of deep mutual devotion and love. Despite a 13-year age difference, their personalities complemented each other well, making them ideal life partners. As Charlie’s appliance business grew, the couple enjoyed salesmanship award trips to exciting international destinations. When Mrs. Houston’s sister Claire visited the couple, she met and later married Charlie’s brother, Bruce. Mrs. Houston’s parents also moved to Blakely when her father became ill. After 13 years of marriage, the couple welcomed their only child, daughter Charla, in 1961. Mrs. Houston took a brief leave from teaching during this time.

Mrs. Houston returned to teaching in 1962, believing that teaching was God’s plan for her life. She considered teaching to be at once an exciting challenge and an awesome responsibility. Mrs. Houston often said she did not think she wanted to teach until she actually did, and then she could not stop. Indeed, she taught for 42 1/2 years and, in that time, instructed thousands of Early County youth, often multiple generations of families. She believed teaching Home Economics in particular allowed her to influence the kind of adults her students would become and the homes they would establish. She not only taught students in the classroom but also gave them opportunities to lead through Future Homemakers of America/Family Career and Community Leaders of America. She ensured that students from rural Early County had opportunities equal to those in metropolitan areas and devised creative ways to fund trips to conferences and competitions across the state and the nation. She derived great joy from watching her students achieve. Over the years, she mentored 35 State and National Officers, 3 Japanese Exchange Students, 52 National STAR Event winners, 35 Literary Meet winners, and 36 State scholarship and award winners. Thirty-six of her students majored in Home Economics in college.

One of the most exciting student accomplishments occurred in 1959, when Priscilla Jones Collins won the National Homemaker of Tomorrow contest, including trips to Washington, D.C., and New York City, as well as national television appearances. The City of Blakely held a grand celebration to welcome Mrs. Houston and Priscilla home from their travels. Another of her students, Annette Davis, married the son of President Jimmy Carter. Annette invited Mrs. Houston and family to visit the White House on several occasions.

Mrs. Houston herself won numerous awards, including local, state, and national Teacher of the Year awards, STAR teacher awards, and Georgia FCCLA Hall of Fame recognition. In 1970, when public schools integrated, Mrs. Houston was determined to embrace the change and the students with characteristic love and advocacy. When she was selected as the WSB-TV Georgia Teacher Hall of Fame winner in 1974, the television station produced a documentary about her work and Early County High, showcasing the thriving integrated school system. In 2014, Mrs. Houston’s former students honored her with a reception and the Early County School System designated the department she designed and taught in as “The Betty Jackson Houston Family and Consumer Sciences Department”.

As a lifelong learner, Mrs. Houston attended graduate school at the University of Georgia, completed further studies at Colorado State, Valdosta State, and Georgia College, and earned her master’s and specialist degrees from Auburn University.

In addition to her teaching contributions, Mrs. Houston served the community by directing the Early County Peanut Pageant for 18 years and assisting with a variety of civic projects. As an avid reader, she loved the Lucy Maddox Memorial Library and its staff. Mrs. Houston was Blakely’s Woman of the Year in 1958.

Mrs. Houston was a member of First Baptist Church of Blakely for over 70 years, serving as a Sunday School teacher for different age groups and in other leadership roles. Mrs. Houston lived out her faith by personally caring for ill or injured family members in her home including her father, her sister, her mother, and her husband who suffered a debilitating stroke in his later years.Mrs. Houston believed in the power of God to sustain her in the most difficult times, such as the loss of her beloved husband in a tragic housefire in 1998.

Mrs. Houston became a grandmother through international adoption in 2002 and 2004. She believed her family illustrated how, through Christ’s work on the cross, we may all be adopted into the family of God. She loved her grandchildren with a fierce and unconditional love. She taught them well.

In addition to her parents, Billy Joe Jackson and Mary Maude Herin Jackson, Mrs. Houston was preceded in death by her husband, Charlie Lamar Houston. Mrs. Houston is survived by her daughter, Charla Beth Houston Allen (David) of Blakely, and two granddaughters, Davia Elizabeth LeXin Allen and Charlye MiKayla KunXin Allen. She is also survived by her siblings, Dr. Billy Joe Jackson and Claire Jackson Houston, and sisters-in-law, Betty Houston Strickland and Linda Vines Houston, along with scores of nieces and nephews.

Mrs. Houston’s family appreciates the skilled and dedicated caregivers who loved Mrs. Houston in her later years, including Mrs. Bennie Wiley, Ms. Terry Alexander, Mrs. Jeanine McDonald, Mrs. Mary Nunnally, Mrs. Carisa Cannon, and Ms. Angeline Threadcraft. The family is also grateful for the compassionate critical care nurses at SE Medical Center, especially Ms. Julianne Monge and Mrs. Terri Shirah.

Mrs. Houston’s nephews and the brothers of her son-in-law, David, will serve as pallbearers. 

Manry-Jordan-Hodges Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.