A daughter of Lime Springs, Betty Sue (Jones) Orum, 86, passed away last month in California.
Betty Sue was the daughter of “Leader Dick” Jones —”Leader Dick” being the Welsh-style nickname given him to distinguish him from the other Richard Joneses in the Lime Springs area. Her parents ran The Leader store on the north side of main street in Lime Springs for years. It was located where The Dam Bar is now located.
Her brother, R. Kenneth and wife Ione, lived in Lime Springs.
Betty Sue married Don Orum, whose family lived about 2 1/2 miles east of town before moving to a farm near Chester. They spent their entire married life living in California. Fortunately, they returned to Lime Springs from time to time, including the Lime Springs High School Reunions. At one of the last two, Betty Sue eloquently presented Carl and LaVonne Cassidy with an Honorary Diploma from LSHS.
Remembering Betty Sue
I was a farm kid and seven years younger than Betty Sue so I didn’t really know her. But I vaguely remember three girls walking around town, always together. I guess they were the original BFF (Best Friends Forever)! I thought I had remembered this correctly so I asked the best source of Lime Springs events, Phyllis Stevenson, about it and she replied as follows:
“Betty Sue has gone home. Kathy Jones called me the night she passed. She had been on oxygen for the past year and Don had given her wonderful loving care. My heart aches for him. They lived in Palm Desert.
“You DO remember correctly, Betty, Norine and I were very close all through school. Betty was a year ahead of us. We had a group of about 10 gals. In the evening we’d walk to the river, singing all the way.
“Harley had taken pics of Don & Betty and the two of us our at Old Town sitting on the rail of the old bridge. I ripped them out of my photo album and sent them to Don. Precious memories!”
You can read about her life and accomplishments in the obituary, published here:
http://forestlawn.tributes.com/obituary/show/Betty-Sue-Orum-104340962