Betty Saville Cook of Turnerville, passed away on April 12, 2022, following a brief illness. Betty was born Dec. 9, 1937, in Homestead, Fla., to Curtis Saville and Gladys Sykes Saville.
She grew up in Florida and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in education from Florida State University. After teaching art in public schools in Albany for several years, she returned to Florida and graduated from the University of Florida with a Masters Degree in Health and Rehabilitative Services and Counseling. She served as a school counselor at the Florida State School for the Deaf and Blind as well as in Avon Park, Sebring, and Fort Myers, Fla., public schools before her retirement.
After retirement, Betty moved to her beloved North Georgia Mountains during which time she became an ordained Unity minister, leading seminars and facilitating small groups of people seeking to live more fulfilling lives through understanding faith and spirituality. Most of these 27 years were spent in Rabun County and more recently in Clarkesville and Turnerville. She was an avid supporter of the Habersham County Senior Center, and she enjoyed sharing time with her Red Hat and Red Bird groups of retired women.
Betty’s lifelong passion was loving and providing help for animals, both domestic and wildlife. She fostered and adopted many cats and participated in a program to spay/neuter and release feral cats.
Betty was preceded in death by her parents, her stepfather Edward McFarland and stepmother Alice Saville. She is survived by her stepson David Cook of Tennessee; her sister Martha Snow of Brevard, N.C.; sister Kathleen McFarland of Florida; many cousins, nephews, and a host of friends. Betty was a kind and compassionate person who saw the good in every living thing and made an effort to share her positive view of life with all she knew.
A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date. Expressions of sympathy may be made through your favorite charity for the protection of animals.
The Clayton Tribune
May 5, 2022