Betty Bristow Obituary, Death – Betty Lou Jones Bristow, 94, of Sanford, North Carolina, died quietly in the early hours of April 2, 2023, surrounded by her loving family.
Betty Lou Jones was born on August 13, 1928, in Roanoke Rapids (Halifax County), North Carolina, to Annie Belle Williams Jones of Waxhaw and Seabrook Jones of Edwards.
When she was five years old, she relocated from Halifax County to Wilmington, North Carolina, and then to Sanford, North Carolina, when her father got a position at Williams Belk. As a result, he established the Jones-Lee Furniture Company. Betty Lou attended Sanford schools and graduated from high school in 1946. She was president of the Glee Club as well as the Jr. Music Club.
She spent a year at Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia, before transferring to Richmond Professional Institute, where she once performed with the school symphony. After her father died, she returned to Sanford and worked at the local radio station, WWGP, until 1949. She met her husband, Charles Stover (Dutch) Bristow, Jr., at a friend’s party at the time. On November 26, 1949, they married.
Betty Lou had a magnificent voice and sang for almost 50 years in the Youth Chorus and Chancel Choir at First Presbyterian Church in Sanford, NC. She was a stand-in for the Handbell Choir.
She was a member of First Presbyterian Church’s Young Adult Sunday School Class, which began in 1950 and was renamed the Dietrick Class in 1963. Betty Lou was the Class President in 1951. She previously worked as a kindergarten teacher.