Betty Jean Shaddix Lewis

Betty Jean Shaddix Lewis passed away in Jacksonville, FL on October 9, 2026, after a long illness. She was 93 years old. She was preceded in death by her husband of 74 years, Rufus Audrey Lewis (age 94) and by her daughter Monica, who passed at age 19.

She is survived by two sons, Dale Lewis of Jacksonville and Bruce Lewis of Savannah, 4 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren.

Betty was born in Moultrie, GA, on December 26, 1932, to Loyd L. Shaddix and Lovie J. Mulkey. It was the height of the Great Depression. Her parents were sharecropping on farms around Funston, GA. Those were hard times, and it was a hard life. The odds were against her, but Betty was a good student and graduated from Moultrie high school.

In 1952, at age 19, she married Rufus “Audrey” Lewis, Jr., a young Air Force sergeant she had met at a square dance less than 6 weeks earlier. The couple built a life together over the course of the next seven decades.

That life demanded flexibility and determination. She raised three children, ran the household and never missed a Cub Scout or Brownie meeting. She was a partner in the family businesses, running a beauty shop, managing a restaurant and working on shrimpboats from Key West to Louisiana. She did what had to be done, every day.

Betty enjoyed more than 25 years of retirement, travelingwith Audrey in a motorhome, gardening and doing what she loved best, taking care of her grandchildren. During those years, she spent thousands of hours researching the family’s history and left her children a great gift, a family history that spans over 200 years. Betty and Audrey lived their last 13 years together in Jacksonville.

There will be no visitation. The graveside service will be held at 2:00pm, Saturday afternoon, October 17, at the Lewis family cemetery on Bascom Road in Sylvania, GA. Thompson-Strickland-Waters Funeral Home at 202 Ennis Street, Sylvania, GA will handle the arrangements. Instead of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the American Cancer Society.