LITTLE ROCK — Betty Thomas was described in her 1942 high school yearbook as “a blond with a shy smile and a dreamy look in her eyes. Don’t let that fool you, though, because she’s full of pep.”
Later in life, Betty Thomas Luten’s enthusiasm was directed toward volunteer work, particularly for Easter Seals Arkansas, her daughter Betsy Luten said.
Betty Luten died Saturday at her Little Rock home from unknown causes. She was 86.
Born April 19, 1924, in Memphis to Virgil Carlton Thomas and Bess Evans Thomas, she was an only child.
In the early 1940s, she graduated from J.M. Atherton High School in Louisville, Ky. She studied political science at the University of Louisville and joined the Kappa Delta sorority, her son, J.R. “Randy” Luten III, said.
On Aug. 16, 1946, Betty Thomas married J.R. “Chick” Luten Jr., and they had three children.
In addition to being a housewife and mother, Betty Luten began volunteering in the 1960s with Easter Seals Arkansas, an organization dedicated to providing services to disabled children and adults.
As a teenager, Betsy Luten volunteered with her mother and said they worked primarily with children, helping with their motor skills through coloring and writing.
“She enjoyed just seeing the happy faces on the kids and knowing they accomplished something,” her daughter said. “She knew that was how they were born and they couldn’t help it and wanted to make sure they could learn the most that they could learn.”
Mixing her passions for volunteering and gardening, Betty Luten joined the Leawood Garden Club. Working as a secretary and at one point president of the club, she helped maintain the sign and flowers at the entrance to Leawood Boulevard.
Betty Luten did all the landscaping at her home,tending to the flowers and shrubs - her favorite being azaleas - that filled the yard, her daughter said. She also grew tomatoes and asparagus, and raised her own grapes to make grape jelly, her daughter said.
In the early 1970s, Betty Luten and a small group of friends took a class and began making wool rugs. She made three for her children, her daughter said.
“[She liked] the satisfaction of leaving an heirloom for her children of something she made herself,” Betsy Luten said.
Betty Luten also volunteered at Hall High School in Little Rock in the 1980s, keeping track of attendance and registration when her three children attended the school, Randy Luten said.
A faithful member of First United Methodist Church in downtown Little Rock, Betty Luten was an active member of the Altar Guild, a group that prepares the altar for services, her son said.
When she wasn’t volunteering, Betty Luten could be found reading one of her hundreds of books, ranging from spy novels with James Bond to the latest legal thriller by John Grisham.
She also enjoyed sitting on her patio in the mornings and evenings, watching the squirrels scamper and birds peck at the feeders around the yard, her son said.
“She liked listening to the birds and having the wind blow through her hair,” Randy Luten said. “It was very peaceful back there.”
Arkansas, Pages 12 on 11/23/2010