Obituary of Betty Jean Arbaugh

Betty Jean (Harper) Arbaugh, age 94, passed away peacefully on Sunday February 11, 2018 at Haywood Lodge in Waynesville. Betty was born on her family farm in Hillsboro West Virginia March 1st, 1923. She later graduated from Huntington High School in January 1940, completed business school and went on to work as an executive assistant for a variety of organizations, including the National Press Club, and National Geographic Society while living in Washington DC.  For many years she was the Executive Assistant to the President at Southwestern Community College in Jackson County.

Betty married Lawrence Glenn Arbaugh Sr. on June 5th, 1943 and they enjoyed 47 years of marriage until Glenn passed in 1990. Their son, Lawrence Glen Arbaugh Jr., was born in 1957.  Betty and Glenn moved from Washington Dc, to Cullowhee in 1963, when Glenn accepted a teaching position at Western Carolina University. They remained in Cullowhee until 1984, when they moved to Arizona.  Betty then spent the next 26 ears n the Phoenix area, until moving back to Sylva in 2010.

Upon returning to the mountains, she became a member of First United Methodist Church in Sylva.  An avid bridge player, she also enjoyed painting and travel.

Betty is preceded in death by her father, William Harper, mother Dora Browning Harper, brother Bill Harper, husband Glenn Arbaugh, and one granddaughter Katherine Arbaugh. She is survived by her son, Lawrence (Larry) Arbaugh, daughter-in-law Mary Arbaugh, and granddaughter Caroline Arbaugh Hundhausen and husband Moritz Hundhausen.

A visitation will be held on Friday February 16th, from 4:30 to 6:30 at Appalachian Funeral Home in Sylva. A private family burial service will be held the following week in Huntington, West Virginia.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donations be made to either First United Methodist Church Sylva, 77 Jackson Street, Sylva, NC 28779 or WCU Foundation (1 University Dr., Cullowhee, NC 28723), attention Katherine Arbaugh Endowed Scholarship fund.