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Obituary – Lowry Matthews Betts

Posted on July 12, 2007 by Staff

Lowry Matthews Betts, 76, died peacefully at his home, Araby Farm, near Pittsboro on Monday, July 9, 2007.

A native of Columbia, SC, he was born September 20, 1930, the third of four sons of Erskine Moore Betts and Ellen Dendy Betts, who predeceased him.

He attended the Columbia public schools and graduated from the University of South Carolina with an A.B. degree in Art and Philosophy in 1953. On July 5, 1952, he was married to the former Doris Waugh of Statesville, NC and they moved to Chapel Hill where he entered the School of Law. A member of the Law Review, he received his J.D. degree there in 1956. That fall he began the practice of law in Sanford, NC with J.C. Pittman and W.W. Station, in the firm which became Pittman, Station and Betts.

In addition to many community activities and membership in the Elks Club, he served as Sanford city attorney, Carrboro city attorney and attorney for the Sanford City School Board.

In the early eighties, he elected to retire to his Chatham County farm to raise Arabian horses, but there was no retiring from his love of the law, and he was appointed District Court Judge succeeding Donald Lee Paschal, being sworn in on January 1, 1986 to serve Judicial District 15-B, which covers Orange and Chatham counties. He was subsequently elected and re-elected, often called a “lawyer’s lawyer.” He became chief judge in December 1, 1994. After the first signs of Parkinson’s Disease were noted, he retired at the end of a 10-year service on November 30, 1996 but continued as an emergency judge holding court in various North Carolina cities. He maintained membership in district and state bar associations until several months before his death.

In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by his brother, Erskine Dendy Betts in 1979. Two surviving brothers are Robert Moore Betts, St. Louis, MO and C. Nevin Betts, Columbia, SC.

His wife, Doris Waugh Betts, survives as well as their children and spouses: Doris LewEllyn Betts and her husband Thomas Mroz, of Clemson, SC; David Lowry Betts and his wife, Catherine, of Pittsboro, NC; Erskine Moore Betts and his wife, Mary, of Apex, NC. David’s daughter, Anna Josephine, of Pittsboro and Erskine’s sons, Matthew and Alston of Apex are the surviving grandchildren. In Columbia, SC, surviving are his sister-in-law, Mrs. Erskine D. Betts (Rowena), nieces Ellen and Mary; and in Fletcher, NC, his niece Rowena as well as their children.

Services will be held Friday at 11:00am at the Pittsboro Presbyterian Church, led by the Rev. Troy Lesher-Thomas. Arrangements are by Walker’s Funeral Home, Chapel Hill, and burial will follow in the churchyard.

The family expresses special gratitude to Dr. Xuemei Huang and others in the Department of Neurology, UNC Hospitals for years of excellent care and also to UNC Hospice of Pittsboro for providing a peaceful ending at home.

Memorials may also be made to that hospice, Box 1077, Pittsboro, NC, 27312, the Pittsboro Presbyterian Church, Box 713, Pittsboro or to the National Parkinson’s Disease Foundation, 1359 Broadway, Suite 1120, Washington, DC, 20005

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