Jan 1, 1957 ~ Sep 14, 2013
Memorial service for Betty Sue Cannon, 56, Lawton, will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at Whinery-Huddleston Funeral Service.
Betty died Saturday, Sept. 14, 2013. While previously a vibrant woman, Betty battled ill health in recent years and it took its final toll on her.
She was born a premature baby to John and Patricia Cannon on Jan. 1, 1957, in Lawton. She graduated from Eisenhower Senior High in 1976, and attended classes at Cameron University. She married Jacques "Jay" Provost in May 1981. Together they had two children before divorcing in 2000. Betty wanted to be a social worker for children, especially those in protective custody and troubled youth. Life took her on a different path, but she still got to do what she loved most in caring for children. She babysat from junior high on and then while attending Cameron University she was a nanny to the Craig family's three children: Steven, Anne and Matthew, forming lasting bonds. She later became a homemaker and loving mother for her two children, Susan and Linda.
Throughout her life Betty had a passion for volunteer work. She collected donations for UNICEF and March of Dimes, collected clothing and care items for the Lawton women's shelter, and spent countless hours as "room mother" to scores of her children's and other children's classrooms. She was a voracious reader and passed the love of reading on to many: to her children, to her Girl Scouts, and anyone who would sit and listen to her read aloud as the characters themselves. She spent much time with her Girl Scouts and took her Daisy troop to the McAlester Children's Museum, to the Ada Fire Department, and taught them how to use computers in the early 1990s. Betty also helped run one of the Tiak Council of Girl Scouts' day camps, teaching the girls to play "water balloon baseball" and to leave the play area cleaner than when you found it whenever possible. Betty also let a number of Brownie and Daisy Scouts perform science experiments in her back yard, including the egg drop and baking soda volcanoes.
Betty also loved to garden and tend plants and trees. While married she would plant flowers or trees at each of the 18 rent houses she and her family lived in over her 19-year marriage. Some of these trees are as far as 2,000 miles apart with many between Lawton and the Dallas/ Fort Worth, Texas, area. Betty had such a green thumb that she could nurture the stems of cut bouquet flowers into rerooting themselves and being hardy enough to plant outdoors. Her love for the outdoors led to a love of swimming. Betty did not consider herself as truly having visited an area until she had taken a swim in the local water. She also told stories of skipping school to pick up her grandmother and go swimming in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. All while sipping her trademarked glass of iced tea.
Betty is survived by daughters: Susan Provost, of the home; and Linda Provost and her fiance Zuriel Morata; a sister, Brenda Smith; a brother, John Cannon Jr. and his wife Tami Cannon; and uncle, Leland Cannon, all of Lawton; a nephew, Shawn Cannon; niece, Katy Cannon; and grand-niece, Madelyn Davis, of Oklahoma City; niece, Yvette Smith, of Washington, D.C.; and cousins: Howard Cannon, of Rush Springs; and William "Billy" Cannon, of Utah.
She was preceded in death by her parents, John and Patricia Cannon; cousins: Richard Cannon and Harold Cannon; grandparents: C. Noble and Lucy Adeline Cannon; aunt, Nilah Cannon; and uncle, Luther Cannon.
In lieu of cut flowers, please donate plants to make a memory garden for Betty.
Online memory book available at www.whineryhuddleston.com. The memorial service will be streamed live on the same website.
Service:
1:00 pm on Saturday, September 28, 2013 at Whinery-Huddleston Chapel 6210 NW
Cache Road Lawton Oklahoma 73505