Betty Fuller

Betty Jo Fuller finished her life here on Earth on the morning of January 25, 2022 at the age of 90 at her home in Derby, Kansas. A lifelong Kansan, Betty was born in Salina, Kansas on October 7, 1931, the second of three daughters to Beulah and Charles Kenison. Betty grew up in Salina and attended and graduated from Kansas Wesleyan University, where she was one of the first women to letter in athletics. She married Walter Fuller in 1957 and spent her post-college years teaching physical education in schools across Kansas before giving birth to her two children, Kimberly and John, and becoming the Health, Physical Education, and Recreation Director at the YWCA for several years so she could spend time raising her beloved kids. After retirement, Betty and Walter moved to Derby, where they lived the rest of their lives together, right across the street from two of their grandkids.

The many ways in which Betty will be remembered by all who she loved and loved her, as well as the stories we all know of her life, are far too numerous to ever hope to encapsulate in words. While she was many things (the world’s biggest baseball fan, a devoted Kansas State Wildcat, a stained glass artist, an avid and industrious knitter, a semi-professional fast-pitch softball player and coach, and baker of the best cinnamon rolls to name only a portion), all of them were rooted in her foundational gift of being a beacon of love, comforting everyone she knew with the knowledge that she wholeheartedly loved them, exactly as they are, and that she was always so proud of them.

Betty is preceded in death by Walter, her husband of 57 years and her younger sister, Sue. Her legacy of love lives on through her older sister, Jean; her two children, Kimberly and her husband Brad, and John and his wife Debbie; her five grandchildren, Alyssa, Brendan, Colton, Karli, and Ashtyn; her three great-grandchildren, Harrison, Hattie, and Everett; and numerous nieces, cousins, and other family.

In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to God’s Backyard, the children’s playground at First Presbyterian Church of Derby (324 N Baltimore, Derby, KS, 67037).