Betty Jacqueline Speer Welborn
How do you know Betty Jacqueline Speer? Please share your stories and photos, and help spread the word about this page!
Betty Speer and her younger brother, Jackie, grew up on Charleston's Coming and Montagu Streets, both addresses being within easy walking distance of their father's shoe store at the corner of George and King. On school days, Betty was also able to stroll over to Beaufain Street's Memminger High School for Girls where her senior year photo was captioned with, "The best things come in small packages." A petite, yet feisty young woman, Betty met the love of her life, Andrew "Jack" Welborn, Jr. while they both were attending the University of South Carolina. She came to share not only her life with Jack, but also his love of Gamecock football and basketball. The young couple soon found a most attractive lot on which to build their future home in the hilly, boulder-strewn Saluda Terrace neighborhood of West Columbia, SC. While her two young children, Jan and Cindy, were in school, Betty immersed herself in volunteer and charity work for local school, church, and service organizations. Stints as an officer in the Saluda River Woman's Club and the Arborvitae Garden Club, as well as a Cub Scouts den mother, were among some of Betty's beneficent activities. After the children were off to high school, Betty began to work fulltime at her husband's successful office supply business, Carolina Impressions, Inc. Unfortunately, Betty's husband and company president, Jack, died suddenly in 1984. However, Betty continued to run the business in memory of her husband. After retiring, she continued to live at the family homeplace in Saluda Terrace until moving in with her full-time caregivers, daughter Cindy Welborn and son-in-law Tommy Stallings. A longtime member and soup kitchen volunteer at Centennial Presbyterian Church and a regular attendee at Forest Lake Presbyterian Church, Betty unexpectedly passed away at home on the morning of February 15, 2022.
Betty was predeceased by: her parents, Jack and Ruby Hawkins Speer, husband Andrew "Jack" Welborn, Jr., and brother USAF captain Andrew Jackson Speer, III. She is survived by: son Jan Welborn of Charleston, Cindy Welborn (Tommy Stallings) of Columbia, three nieces and a nephew.
A 2:00 p.m. graveside service will be held on Feb. 25 at Woodridge Memorial Park, 138 Corley Mill Rd., Lexington, officiated by the Rev. Dr. Ellen Skidmore and Mr. Ed Black. Memorials may be to Centennial Pres. Soup Kitchen or Forest Lake Pres. Endowment Fund.
Dunbar Funeral Home, Devine Street Chapel, is assisting the family. Memories may be shared at www.dunbarfunerals.com.