Betty Moffett Skillern

On February 10, 1929, when Betty Jane Moffett Skillern came to this world via Livingston, Texas, she was six weeks premature. The attendants, thinking she was dead, laid her aside so they could minister to her struggling mother, Savilla Pearl Hawkins Moffett. “Pearl” did not live another day, but her baby survived.

Pearl left behind her husband, Henry Oscar Moffett, and seven children. Henry must have been grief-stricken and bewildered, having just lost a wife and the mother of his many kids, which now included a premature baby. This is where the story took a turn. His brother and sister-in-law, John and May Moffett, rode a train from Silsbee, Texas, to Pearl’s funeral --and brought home tiny Betty Jane in a shoe box. May Moffett stayed in bed for weeks with the baby, serving as a loving incubator.

Thus it was that Betty Jane grew up in Silsbee as the child of John (“BoBo”) and May Moffett, whom she considered to be parents and their three children (Billy, Rosemond, and Yvonne) to be siblings. She spent summers on the farm with her “Big Daddy” and her biological siblings. Big Daddy later married sweet Clara Thelma Diamond and had five more children. Betty loved them all.

By her own accounts, Betty had a happy childhood in Silsbee. Her daddy John was an engineer for Santa Fe and a charter member of First Baptist Church, while May gardened and sewed most of the family’s stylish clothes. They both made the yard and gardens a paradise: azaleas, camellias, magnolias, trumpet vine, vegetables, and berries; trees bearing oranges, grapefruits, persimmons, and pecans. Betty spent idyllic days with friends riding horses, swimming at Baby Galvez, going to movies and dancing all the way home-- and for adventure, occasionally swiping satsumas. Then came the war.

The war raged during her years at Silsbee High School, where she was voted “most beautiful.” She married her high school boyfriend, Hardy Andros, when she was a teenager (as was common during war times), but the relationship did not last. When she was about twenty-two, she returned to the home of May and John with two sons, Henry Rockwell (Rocky) and John Randolph (Randy). She graduated from Chenier Business School with excellent skills and worked at Sun Oil as an accomplished secretary.

When she was twenty- three, she and a friend exited First Baptist Church where they’d been dying Easter eggs, and she met Link Skillern who was riding by with the friend’s boyfriend. They agreed to double date that night, going to a Port Arthur restaurant where an orchestra played. Mother has told this story hundreds of times: she didn’t know much about Link; he asked, “Betty, would you care to dance?” She said she’d love to, and when she walked into his arms, she “knew she was home, and Link felt that way, too.” They danced up a storm as they were both fabulous dancers! They married a year later: Link adopted Rocky and Randy, and they had two more children, Richard Clint and Rhonda Lynn. They all lived in the house where Betty had grown up.

Betty and Link had similar values: devotion to God, family, work, community, faithfulness, thankfulness, perseverance. They weathered upheavals and prayed through many serious health issues. They took care of their elderly parents and relatives, offered helping hands to friends and neighbors, sent food to the sick and grieving. Their riches were in friendships: they never made much money but sacrificed, scrimped, and saved to send all four kids to college. What an accomplishment!

Betty had absolutely beautiful hands, which she used to make a living typing 80 words a minute without errors, taking swift and accurate shorthand, and keeping immaculate files. Although she worked at Eastex Pulp and Paper in the 1960s, she spent most of her career at Neches National Bank/ First National Bank, where she became Vice President. She had consummate manners and a historic knowledge of Silsbee families. People loved her. One of her duties was managing the first travel club in Silsbee; she’d make the arrangements, and Link would entertain the whole bus with jokes he’d prepared. After decades of going nowhere on vacations, she and Link traveled all over the American south, and even explored England, Ireland, and Hawaii. Betty also visited Acapulco and Paris. She retired in 1994, although she worked part-time on the travel club.

Her first priority was her family. She nursed Link through his several bouts of cancer, and she was his eyes after he lost most of his sight to glaucoma. She strongly encouraged her four children, all of whom had different interests and successes. They were her pride and joy, and she told them often how much she loved them. Her beautiful hands made the best Sunday dinners: fried chicken and home-made fries, pot roast with rice and gravy, crusty baked hams, turkey and dressing, fresh vegetables, potato salad, and pies from scratch. At her happiest, she would sing full heartedly as she gazed out of the kitchen window.

Her hands would also fly like birds across the piano keys as she played the boogie woogie or “Begin the Beguine.” In fact, one could hear music often in the house, since Rocky and Rhonda played piano, Randy played guitar and sang, and Ricky would snap his fingers while singing soul songs.

Poetic inspiration moved Betty to create over 60 poems: she’d suddenly say, “Go get me paper and pen – I have a poem to write!” Having an artistic sensibility, she noticed and commented on beauty wherever she went: “Isn’t this tomato the loveliest?” she’d ask, while her hand cradled it like a jewel, or “Isn’t the way the sun shines on the raindrops so pretty?”

But she also was tough and determined. She survived two strokes, nose cancer, breast cancer, pancreatitis, C. diff, several falls, and many bouts of pneumonia. And if she didn’t want to do something, no amount of reasoning could persuade her.

She, like Link, got much joy from being a grandparent to their four grandchildren: Kristin, Nicole, Amanda, and Alek. During holidays, their house would be full and so would be their hearts.

Betty was a founding member of Beta Sigma Phi, a service sorority that met once a month and hosted seasonal parties for members and their husbands. The week before the couple moved to Austin in January 2014, members of Beta Sigma Phi gave them a send-off party where Betty and Link danced. They were 84 and 94 years old.

The years they lived in Austin were among their happiest. They had a big house roomy enough for extended family dinners, kind neighbors, and a spirited Yorkie to keep them entertained; their kids handled most of the responsibilities, and they saw them, their grandchildren, and then great grandchildren more frequently. They found a loving community at the historic Walnut Creek Baptist Church, which they regularly attended. They laughed often, Betty heartily, and Link with his lighthearted snuffle.

Link died at almost 99 years old in April of 2018, and Betty never really got over it. “Link was so cheerful and kind,” she’d say, “I miss him so.” She spent her last few years in assisted living facilities where her children, grandchildren, and friends would visit, all of whom lifted her spirits.

Betty Jane Moffett Skillern celebrated her 94th birthday on Feb. 10, 2023. She got her hair and nails done, received many cards from family and friends, gifts and flowers from her children and grandchildren, and enjoyed visitors throughout the day. For a person who hardly survived birth, she lived a rich, long life. She died two weeks later on February 25th, with her daughter holding her beautiful hand.

She is preceded in death by: Her husband, Lincoln Skillern; eldest son, Henry R. Skillern; her John Moffett siblings that included Billy, Rosamond, Yvonne; her Henry O. Moffett siblings that included Holcomb, Douglas, Emerald Robert, Mary Pearl Jacoby, Garrison, Charles, Jeanette, and Bobby Gene.

She is survived by: Sons John Randolph Skillern and wife Lina; Richard Clint Skillern and wife Dionne; daughter Rhonda Lynn Skillern and husband Timothy Burns. Grandchildren: Kristen R. Skillern, Nicole Hermann, Amanda Skillern, Alek Skillern and wife Megan. Siblings Jimmy Moffett and wife Mary, Johnny Moffett, and Gloria Mc-Cullough, along with numerous great-grandchildren, other loving family members, and friends.

Visitation on March 11, 5-7, at Cook-Walden Funeral Home, 6100 North Lamar, Austin Texas.

Funeral services on March 12, 1:30, at Walnut Creek Baptist Church, 12062 North Lamar, Austin Texas.

Donations can be made in memory of Betty to Walnut Creek Baptist Church, PO Box 80522, Austin, 78708.

Betty’s favorite Bible verses: Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Philippians 4.8 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast. It is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.

Betty Skillern’s funeral will be live streamed at:Live.walnutcreekbc.org