Betty Lou Davidson Wilson
1930-2025
Betty Lou Davidson Wilson was born June 11, 1930 and passed from this earth on March 6, 2025.
She was the oldest child of Marcille and Tom Davidson and later was joined by her little sister Lovena. She grew up a happy child in her beloved hometown of Spencerville, Ohio spending her childhood days swimming, skating, biking and visiting her grandparents on their farms. She was a beautiful and popular girl becoming a cheerleader throughout her high school years.
Betty Lou was a real-life Forrest Gump in that throughout her life she was always bumping into folks who became famous in different walks of life. An example would be as a high school cheerleader, she attended a mixer after a basketball game and her cousin introduced her to the shy boy sitting next to her. She spent the rest of the evening talking with Neil Armstrong.
Post World War II after Betty finished high school, she moved with her family to Arizona. They moved for her father’s respiratory health, and he had secured a good position overseeing security for the new Motorola Plant. Betty also became employed at Motorola working on auto radios until she was tapped for the highest-level security clearance. Once cleared she was subbed into the Inner Sanctum which was a Top-Secret section of the plant. Using the dexterity of her small fingers she and several other women assembled modulated initiators that were triggers for nuclear weapons. When an employee entered the “sanctum” they were secured in until the end of shift. One day as her shift ended Betty Lou rushed out of the sanctum and ran into an old man making his cane fly down the hallway. She gave him his cane, apologized and talked with him for a moment. As she and her co-worker Rose proceeded down the hall, Rose chided Betty for running over the founder and CEO of Motorola Paul Galvin.
Shortly after moving to Arizona, Betty met the love of her life, Clyde Wilson. A neighbor, who was engaged to an Airman, invited Betty to ride out to the airbase to attend a dance. That evening a handsome, athletic Airman in a green polka dot shirt asked her to dance. From that evening on they dated, marrying after a year and staying devoted to each other until death parted them 65 years later when Clyde passed in 2016.
Betty and Clyde lovingly raised 5 children, enjoyed 4 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. They were adventurous as young adults moving around the country and Betty had many tales of old Hollywood stars and other luminaries that crossed her path. They finally settled in the Eastern Panhandle to be near Clyde’s family.
Betty was very much the center of the family through the decades and was also a great supporter of Morgan County Schools. She was a long-time teacher’s aide for special education and helped in auxiliary support such as ticketing for lunchtime and athletics. She knew most of the families in Morgan County and cared deeply for the students.
Betty Lou is preceded in death by her husband Clyde, her parents, her sister and her two oldest sons Paul and Mike.
She is survived by sons Tom and Mark (Kim), by daughter Katy (Sam), by grandsons Eric (Krista) and Ben, by granddaughters Angela and Hannah (Ian) and great-grandchildren Colton and Kendall.
Her family celebrates a long life well lived!
The family would like to sincerely thank War Memorial Hospital and the Extended Care Unit for the wonderful treatment Betty received in your care these last two years. The staff is outstanding, and the hospital is a shining jewel for Morgan County.
