Remembering Betty Anderson

Betty Anderson (’46) passed away March 23 of this year. She will be sorely missed by all who knew her.

Anderson posthumously received the Aeolian Award and the Lifetime Member Award for her service on the GSW Alumni Association Board of Directors. She dedicated her time and effort to the Board for over 30 years. Recipients of the Aeolian Award are chosen based on outstanding lifetime achievement as a distinguished alum and community leader. Anderson’s children accepted the awards on her behalf on April 26, 2014.

“Betty Anderson was one of the first people I met when I entered the business world after college,” said Len Hicks, president of the GSW Alumni Association. “I also had the opportunity to work with her professionally, and in later years, I served on volunteer boards and projects with her. Betty was always the same - professional, knowledgeable, helpful, and always willing to go the extra step to help others. She was an outstanding and committed individual to her community and was willing to do whatever she could to make our community better. She was a good person on all levels and will be sincerely missed but not forgotten.”

In 2003, Anderson received the Leewynn J. Finklea Outstanding Alumni Award. This award recognizes outstanding alumni who have demonstrated exceptional service to the Alumni Association or the University and is named in honor of the first GSW alumni director.

“Betty was one of the most dedicated alums I have ever met,” said Karen Holloway, director of GSW Alumni Affairs. “If there was an event on campus, she was there. She truly loved GSW and did everything she could to support it and the students. Whether it was dipping ice cream on Student Appreciation Day or welcoming parents and students on Preview Day, she was always expressing her love for GSW.”

Betty Anderson was posthumously named the 2014 Aeolian Award recipient, as well as a Lifetime Member of the Alumni Assoc. Board of Directors. Accepting the awards are her children (left to right) Terry Anderson, Bobby Anderson and Connie and Darrell Weldon.

Anderson was a member of First United Methodist Church of Americus where she served as a volunteer setting up coffee for the Epworth Sunday School Class every Sunday, helping with Wednesday night supper every week and helping count offerings on Sundays. She was a past vice president of First Federal Savings and Loan and retired from Sumter Bank and Trust. Anderson also volunteered her time as an usher at the Rylander Theatre in Americus.