Services for Betty Harman- Payton took place at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, at the Childress Methodist Church with Mr. Lou Ellerbrook officiating. Burial followed at the Childress Cemetery under the direction of Johnson Funeral Home.
Visitation took place from 5-7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 1, 2025, at Johnson Funeral Home.
Betty was born Sept. 30, 1925, to Walter and Thayer Doggett Hamilton in Panhandle, Texas. She passed away at 7:40 p.m. Nov. 26, 2025. She was an only child. She attended Amarillo High School. She grew up a railroader’s daughter, and they moved from Amarillo, Texas to Wichita Falls, Texas and then, back to Amarillo. Sometimes, she worked in Childress, Texas.
After she graduated from high school, she went to work for the Sante Fe Railroad and worked in the Sante Fe building in Amarillo in ticket sales for soldiers being shipped out to World War ll. It was then that she met her future husband, James Russell Harman. He oversaw getting the tickets for the soldiers. After several phone calls to buy tickets, he persuaded her to meet him for a coffee date. They married Sept. 7, 1944.
They were married two weeks when he shipped out for India for two years. She continued to work for the railroad until he returned. They were blessed with two children, Russell (Roena) Harman and Ann (David) Ricks.
Betty and Jimmy were best at entertaining their friends for all the holidays and just to get together. She absolutely loved to decorate for Christmas, and Jimmy chimed in with her. They had three Christmas trees, one on each level of the house, and everything was decorated, inside and out. They wanted the kids and grandkids to love Christmas as much as they did. Every Christmas Eve, they would load everyone up to go to town for the Christmas Eve service at the Methodist Church. It was a family tradition for all to attend church together that night.
Betty also loved to oil paint, and everyone in the family has been given at least one painting. There are still many more hanging in her house. She also worked on family genealogy extensively, and that was before it was online. She and Jimmy traveled, and they stopped at no telling how many courthouses and graveyards, searching for ancestors. She traced her family roots all the way back to the late 1400s. She had ancestors that were Indian but never was able to get that traced — that was all she lacked completing the genealogy.
She also was an accomplished seamstress and made Ann and all the granddaughters dresses, including Ann’s wedding dress and some formals. She was also a Cub Scout Mom and Boy Scout Mom, while Jimmy was the leader. She was a member of the Order of Eastern Star in Childress and Daughters of the Nile in Wichita Falls. While in Eastern Star, she was Worthy Matron, Deputy Grand Matron and two-time District Deputy. She attended Grand Chapter several times. She was a 50+ year member. She dearly loved her Eastern Star family and was overjoyed when her daughter joined also.
She and Jimmy also loved to travel. They had a cabin at Lake Kemp by Seymour, Texas, which they later sold. After selling that property, they first bought a pickup camper and traveled. It wasn’t long until they decided they wanted a trailer. They purchased an Airstream and then, later, bought a fifth wheel. They also joined The Chaparrals Travel Club and spent lots of weekends traveling as a group with them. They both loved fishing and water skiing. They continued to ski in their 70s! They traveled to Thousand Trails North of Dallas and Tom Steed Lake to name only a few.
After Jimmy passed in 2002, she met and married Don Payton. She and Don both loved to travel, and they traveled to 49 states in their fifth wheel while they were married. They both loved to grow flowers and gardens, and they had some of the most beautiful flowers ever. She brought a rose bush cutting home in a Styrofoam cup on one trip that was only five inches tall. It grew into a massive, beautiful, pink rose bush!
She had several dogs throughout her life and loved them all. She always said she didn’t like cats, but she had a cat the last 1 1/2 years of her life that had belonged to a friend. She named the cat after her friend, Merle, and loved that cat. She would take it for wheelchair rides throughout the house in her lap. Merle, her red headed, green-eyed cat! When she went to the nursing home, she sure missed Merle and would ask about him often.
Betty lived at home until eight days before her 100th birthday party, when she had to go to the hospital. She went to the nursing home in Childress, and on the third day, went to her 100th birthday party at the Childress Methodist Church. She was delighted to see all her friends. Those that knew her, knew that she was sharp as a tack up until just a month before she passed away. She knew and remembered everything, including her finances, everything about her house and how much she had spent on nearly everything she had bought. She missed Jimmy, Don and all her friends that had passed before her. She would talk about that sometimes. Her mother passed of cancer when she was only 18 years old. She mourned her every year on her mother’s birthday, the date she passed away and Mother’s Day. There was certainly a happy reunion when she saw her mother, Jimmy and Don in Heaven, as well as her friends that had passed.
Betty is survived by her son, Russell (Roena) Harman, of Gainesville, Texas, and her daughter, Ann (David) Ricks, of Childress; 15 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren; as well as David (Vicky) Payton, of Tennessee, Donald (Barbara) Payton, of Florida, and Brenda ( Jon) Medlam, of Kansas. Grandchildren include Jamie (Lynn) Harman, of Dumas Texas, Carol ( Josh) Engelhaupt, Carla ( John) Wadsworth, of Pampa Texas, Vicky White, of Sherman, Texas, John (Martha) Caraway, of Stinnet, Texas, Karen ( James) Ellis, of Johnsonville Ill., Jerah ( Jonathan) Roberson, of Rockport, Texas, Justin Wadsworth, of Pampa, Texas, Briona Gray, of Oklahoma City, and Vanessa (Isiah) Castillo, of Oklahoma City.
The family would also like to offer our appreciation to Dr. Dustin Pratt, Childress Regional Medical Center Hospice and her many caregivers who tended to her while she was at home. We would also like to thank Kelly Keys for sitting with Betty at the nursing home so that we could get some rest. All that cared for her that we may not have been mentioned, you were a blessing. And her friends that stayed close during her transition, your friendship with her meant the world to us.
The family suggest memorials to the American Cancer Association in her memory.
