Ida Elizabeth (Burleson) Boone

Ida Elizabeth (Betty) Burleson Boone, Mama, Aunt Betty, Nanny, Granny, Umin Granny, Betty went home to be with Jesus on March 23, 2024.

Betty was born October 21, 1929, in Barnardsville, North Carolina. For many years she lived on the Biltmore Estate where she worked at the Biltmore Dairy Bar, where it’s said she ate as many sundaes as she sold. The Biltmore held a very special place for Betty as it was also where she met and married her husband, Calvin. She spent years working at the Kress Department store in Asheville where she demonstrated the hula hoop. She was a talented seamstress and could make a Roman shade without a pattern. She was an avid reader keeping on trend with two books a week (even on hospice care), she sang with the Burleson Family, played guitar and piano (by ear), clogged, yodeled, and did a mean Mini Pearl impression. Her love of animals also knew no bounds, birds, cows, mean roosters, miniature horses, dogs, or fainting goats, they were all welcome at Betty’s place.

Betty, 94 years old, was living in Pickens, SC, where she was a Pickens First Baptist Church member. She was the daughter of the late Vantus Van Buren Burleson and Edna Mae Burleson. Betty was preceded in death by her husband of 64 years – John Calvin Boone. They lived in Bowman, SC for over 40 years where she was an active member of Bowman First Baptist Church and taught Sunday school and was the youth choir leader. Betty and Calvin spent their years making the world a better place by opening their hearts and home as foster parents where they were able to welcome hundreds of children. They were recognized for opening their home to so many children by being named Foster Parents of the Year.

Betty is survived by her three children, Vance (Jane) Boone of Ringgold GA, Susan (Gary) Berry of Pickens SC, Bobby Boone of Orangeburg SC. She was also the loving Granny, Nanny, and Umin Granny of 5 grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren, and 4 great-great-grandchildren. Betty is also survived by a sister, Martha Jackson of Chapin, SC, and a brother, Paul (Beulah) Burleson of Orangeburg, SC.

She loved fiercely her Lord, her family, and her animals. She was welcomed home, no doubt, by Calvin, and Elizabeth (her adored chihuahua). She was love, and she was joy, and she will be greatly missed until we see her again. 

Memorial donations can be made to Pickens First Baptist Church or Bowman First Baptist Church, and please consider donating a book to a Little Library.

The family would also like to send a special thank you to Interim Hospice Care and especially to her loving nurse, Jill.

Funeral services will be held at 2:00 P.M. on Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Bowman First Baptist Church, 6605 Charleston Highway, Bowman. Rev. Johnny Rumbough, Rev. Michael Rumbough and Rev. Steve Scott will be officiating.  Burial will follow in Bowman Memorial Cemetery off of the Charleston Highway.

The family will receive friends from 1:00-2:00 P.M. on Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Bowman First Baptist Church prior to the funeral service.

Honored to serve as pallbearers are Van Boone, Michael Boone, Adam Berry, Seth Berry, Eli Vassar and Lyn Burleson.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Ida Elizabeth (Burleson) Boone, please visit our floral store.