On the early morning of May 30, 2021 Betty Murphy Wawrzon passed away peacefully at her home in Lebanon, Tennessee. She has now joined her husband, Dale, to whom she was married for 50 years.  She was 82 years old.  Betty Murphy Wawrzon was born a middle child, in Gilt Edge, Tennessee on July 8, 1938, in a small rural cotton farming community north of Memphis near the Mississippi River, to Rupert Parker Murphy and Elizabeth Hayes Cousar Murphy.  She had two older brothers and a younger sister and another younger brother. After graduating from Munford High School, she attended Lambuth College in Jackson, Tennessee where she earned her BA in teaching. Betty's otherwise bright academic career was only slightly stained by her consistent failing of the required singing courses.  After graduating, she promptly got on a train and moved the Kingman, Arizona to begin her teaching career.  She never lost her love for, what used to be, the little desert town of Kingman and its’ people.  After 3 years there, she applied and was accepted into DoDDS (Department of Defense Dependent Schools) as a teacher.  Her first posting was in Tokyo, Japan, where she taught various grades in the American school at Yokohama. She also taught English to the Japanese who, it was widely noted, learned to speak English with a very distinctive West Tennessee Southern accent.  While in Tokyo, she met and married fellow teacher, Dale John Wawrzon, from Marinette, Wisconsin, in a quiet and very private ceremony attended by only two or so hundred very loud and jovial uninvited fellow teachers, pilots, and officers from the base.
After six years in Japan, Betty and Dale moved to Ankara, Turkey then on to Bitburg, West Germany where their first son, Eric, was born in June 1969.  After 2 years, they moved again to Rota, Spain, where their second son Joel, was born in December 1972.  Three years later, they moved to Vicenza, Italy, where they lived for 9 years.  In May of 1985, they returned to Turkey for their final posting in Izmir.  They officially retired in February 1995 after over 10 years in Turkey and over 35 years teaching overseas and bought a house on Riverside Avenue in Marinette, Wisconsin.  They enjoyed a long, active, and happy retirement there for 20 years until the passing of Dale Wawrzon on August 16, 2015, after a marriage of 50 years.  Soon Betty went on to live in Lebanon, Tennessee for health reasons. She was surrounded by her children and loved ones in the end. Her niece, Jennifer Murphy and sister-in-law, Betty Sue Murphy kept in constant communication. 

She is survived by her sons, Joel and Eric and his wife Michelle; granddaughter, Bailey Alwin; her beloved sister, Lina Murphy Stokes and her husband, Wayne; her best friend, Mary Spoutz; 2 nieces and 6 nephews, and her close friend and cousin, Jane Spray and family. She developed deep long-lasting relationships with Betty Jo Sloan McDow, Edward and Darlene Baetke, Thomas and Judy Hogan, Nan Bretl and her family, and a plethora of good friends spread around the country.

Funeral services will be held at 11 am on Wednesday, July 7th, 2021, at Our Lady of Lourdes (Holy Family), 2735 Taylor Street, Marinette, WI.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Thomas Aquinas Academy,

1200 Main Street, Marinette, WI 54143

Arrangements by Bond Memorial Chapel, N. Mt. Juliet Road and Weston Drive, Mt. Juliet, TN. (615) 773-2663. www.bondmemorial.com