Betty Jean Coleman Daniels

Betty Jean Coleman Daniels died on July 25, 2011, after a long illness. She was born January 2, 1929, in Memphis, Tennessee, the only child of Doris Cartwright Coleman and Charles Rose Coleman. Her grandparents were Charles T. and Emma Rose Coleman of Little Rock and James Cartwright and Bernice Bryant Cartwright of Osceola. A maternal great-grandfather, Noah Gandy Cartwright, was the first mayor of Osceola. U. M. Rose of Little Rock was a paternal great-grandfather. Known alternatively through life as Miss Bett, Betsy Bug, B.J., Betty Jean or Bett, she grew up on the Redbud Plantation in Mississippi County near Osceola, Arkansas. She attended Osceola public schools through junior high and graduated from Gulfpark School for Girls in Biloxi, Mississippi. She attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where she was a member of Chi Omega Sorority and where she met the love of her life and future husband, Walter E. Daniels Jr. (Mole) of Little Rock, on her first blind date. They were married in 1948 and, until his untimely death in 1991, had many excellent adventures with a large circle of friends and family in Arkansas and around the world. She is survived by their three children and their spouses, all residing in central Arkansas: Dana Daniels and Wally Nixon, Charles Walter (Chuck) and Nancy Daniels, and Coleman Wolf and Sandy Daniels (daughter Ashlynn); five grandchildren: Charlie (and wife Ashley), Chris, William and Sydney Daniels and Abigail Nixon; honorary grandson, Jason Owens; two great-grandchildren, Kayla and Kayson Daniels; sisters-in-law Ruth Ann Daniels Johnson (Jim) and Joan Daniels Hodgson; and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews. As a child, Betty Jean raised and showed Tennessee Walkers, raised chicks (which she hated) and bulls for her 4-H club and had the run of the farm at a time when her father still often road a horse to survey crops on the land that he had cleared after attending Harvard Law School. She witnessed farm mechanization and the coming of REA-provided electricity to eastern Arkansas. She spent many weekends at the Memphis Peabody and in New Orleans and had frequent vacations in Little Rock with the Rose and Newton families, cousins. For many years, beginning at age 6, she attended Gypsy Camp in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, for two months or more each summer. After marriage, she and Mole returned to Redbud for 12 years. His business ventures eventually took them first to Memphis, then to Jackson, Mississippi, and finally back to Little Rock in 1963. Wherever she lived, she was always an avid sports fan, especially of her beloved Razorbacks. She grew up hunting and fishing and played tennis and golf. She loved to dance and play cards, and she loved camping and canoeing and particularly enjoyed the rustic family cabin on the river near Hector. She was a member of the Country Club of Little Rock, where she played bridge, (some serious and competitive, some just fun) until the last few weeks of her life. Always a voracious reader, she had a keen and inquisitive mind and would have been an archaeologist if she had not married and raised a family. She was a lifelong Presbyterian. The family would like to thank her care-givers, Brenda Foster and Ronda Ramey for their kind and compassionate work during the last year, and the staff of Arkansas Hospice for their amazing talents and compassionate assistance in the last few months. There will be a private burial followed by a memorial service at 4 p.m. on Thursday, July 28, 2011 in the Ruebel Funeral Home Chapel officiated by Rev. Jeanne Burton. The family will be at home at 1705 N. Jackson following the service. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Central Arkansas Library System, 100 Rock Street, Little Rock, Ark. 72201, or Arkansas Hospice, 14 Parkstone Lane, North Little Rock, Ark. 72116. Cremation arrangements under the direction of Ruebel Funeral Home, www.ruebelfuneralhome.com.