Lavenya Reece Murph Bett Pickrell , January 03, 1926 — October 08, 2018

Obituary for Lavenya “Betty” Pickrell Lavenya (Betty) Reece Murphy Pickrell of Bartlett, TN, passed away peacefully after a brief illness on October 8, 2018. Born in Munford, TN, on January 3, 1926, Betty was the daughter of the late Hilliard Jessie Murphy, Sr., and Mary Agnes Turnage, of Tipton County. She graduated from Munford High School and the University of Tennessee School of Nursing in Memphis.

While in nurse’s training she met her husband, the late Roy Lee Pickrell, Jr., of Clinton, Tennessee, and they were wed in Honolulu in March, 1953. Employed as a homemaker and mother of two for many years, she returned to school and earned her Associate’s Degree in Hospital Medical Records in 1975. She worked as Director of Medical Records at Fisher-Titus Memorial Hospital in Norwalk, Ohio, until her retirement in 1989.

Betty and Roy retired soon thereafter, returning to Tennessee to be closer to family. During her entire lifetime she had a deep commitment to her family and church community. She was an active member of the Bartlett United Methodist Church for many years.

Betty was one of five siblings and was preceded in death by her brother, Hilliard Jessie Murphy, Jr., and Virginia Ruth Murphy McCormick. She is survived by her daughter, Anne Marie Pickrell and her husband, Jeffrey Crystal, of Pennsylvania; her grandsons, Scott Paul Crystal and Phillip James Crystal; her son, Paul Murphy Pickrell and his wife, Sandy Pickrell, of Bartlett; her sisters, Nelwyn Pearson, of Missouri, and Janie Reed, of Arkansas. To send flowers to the family of Lavenya “Betty” Pickrell, please visit our Heartfelt Sympathies Store.

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