Betty Lou Sharpe Bruton

Candor, NC -- Betty Lou Sharpe Bruton, 94, passed away August 1, 2021 at Fox Hollow Assisted Living Facility in Pinehurst, NC after a brief illness.

She was born June 28, 1927 in Winston-Salem, the oldest of four daughters of William Pleasant Sharpe and Sallie Herring Sharpe.  She was a graduate of Graham High School (1944), Women’s College of the University of North Carolina (UNCG-1948), and began a career teaching Home Economics at Candor High School from 1948-1950.  On December 22, 1949, she married Ed Burt Bruton in Aberdeen, NC, her husband of 52 years.  A Candor native and WWII veteran, Ed preceded her in death in 2002.

Betty Lou is survived by 3 sisters, 4 children, 6 grandchildren, and 2 great-grandchildren:  sisters, Polly Jenkins of Raleigh, Susan Houg of Fort Jones, CA, and Sallie McCauley (Andy) of Meadows-of-Dan, VA;  son, Burt, of Miami, FL;  daughter, Betty B. Bradley, of Waynesville, NC, and her daughters, Martha (Dan), and K.H. (Kate) and their daughters (great-grandchildren), Nora and Ellis;  son Bill (Teresa) of Whispering Pines, NC, their sons Benjamin and Daniel;  and daughter Sue Davis (Chuck), of Pinehurst, their children Lee Haithcock (Ray) and Charlie (Megan).

After a family-building hiatus for 12 years, Betty Lou resumed her teaching career in 1962 at East Montgomery High School (Biscoe), retiring in 1981, and then devoting herself to her writing and civic interests, and the family farming business outside Candor, near Samarcand.  She will be remembered by many as “the sweet little old lady who sold grapes and baked goodies at that vineyard on 211”.

Betty Lou joined the Candor Methodist Church in 1949 and remained a faithful member until her death, serving in many leadership capacities, including Sunday School teacher, local UMW President and District UMW Officer, Chairperson of the Council on Ministries, choir member, newsletter publisher, and launching the Terrific Tuesday after-school partnership with Candor Elementary.  She also organized the first Meals on Wheels effort in the Candor community in 1981, and served as the local program co-ordinator until 2010;  she was a tenacious recruiter of volunteers for this effort.

She studied clothing design at university, was a helluva good cook, and was a published author of adolescent fiction and magazine articles.  Betty Lou’s father was a renowned journalist and the inventor of North Carolina’s post-war tourism image, which required her childhood home to migrate frequently between “newspaper cities”, notably Raleigh and Winston-Salem (and back).  She had said that Candor was her first “permanent” home;  she loved her adopted community and church, and they loved her back.  The Town of Candor chose her as the Grand Marshall of the NC Peach Festival Parade in 2012.  She resided in her vineyard home until 2016.  She also loved her students, and in her later years she was delighted when they would re-introduce themselves as former students, and frequently follow with unsolicited apologies for their poor behavior in school.  Luckily for them, Ed and her children had rigorously prepared her with a depth of patience required for a teaching career.  She came equipped at birth with many of her other saintly qualities;  the rest she developed with God’s help alone.

Weather permitting, the family will receive visitors at 9:00 AM, Saturday, August 21, 2021 at Candor Cemetery (2401 US-Alternate, Candor, NC 27229), followed by a Celebration of Life and interment of ashes at graveside, 10:00 AM.  In case of rain, the same schedule will be observed at the Briggs-Candor Chapel at 187 Farmers Market Rd., Biscoe, NC 27209.  The family requires that attendees wear masks and maintain appropriate distances at either site.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be directed to Candor United Methodist Church, PO Box 456, Candor, NC 27229 and God’s Garden, PO Box 827, Biscoe, NC  27209.