Betty Joyce (Graham) Ewing, 90, a long-time resident of Kirksville, Missouri, passed away Sunday (June 15, 2014) at Northeast Regional Medical Center in Kirksville with family at her side.

The daughter of Roscoe and Ethel (Truitt) Graham, Betty was born on a farm in Adair County, Missouri on December 22, 1923.

Betty was a graduate from Kirksville High School with the Class of 1941. She married Hillis Edward Ewing on December 1, 1941.

Betty started working at International Shoe Company in May of 1941. She left the company in 1943 but returned in 1947. Betty’s last day of work at the shoe factory, later Florsheim Shoe Company, was May 27, 1987. During Betty’s employment at the factory she served thirty-three years as a union officer holding down a variety of positions.

Betty’s interests included Western and Big Band music and dancing as well as family camping trips.

She was a member of the First Christian Church of Kirksville.

Betty is survived by a special friend, Paul Marquardt of Kirksville; son-in-law, Dr. Robert Williams of Livingston, TX; two grandsons and their spouses, Christian and Kellie Williams of Wailuku, Hawaii and Dr. Todd and Tracy Williams of Ottumwa, IA; and four great-grandchildren, Madeline, Max, Chance, and Lane.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Hillis; her daughter, Joyce Ann and two sisters, Leona and Roma.

Funeral services will be held 11:00 a.m. Friday (June 20, 2014) with family receiving friends one hour before the service in the chapel of Travis-Noe Funeral Home in Kirksville. Pastor Jim Pitney will officiate the service. Interment will follow the service at Maple Hills Cemetery in Kirksville.

Expressions of sympathy in memory of Betty Ewing may be made to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Memorials may be left at or mailed to Travis-Noe Funeral Home, P.O. Box 306, Kirksville, MO 63501.