Betty Lou Barclay, mother, teacher, and advocate for the disabled and for historic Dillon, passed away peacefully the morning of December 27th at Pruitt Health (“The Pines”) in Dillon after a lengthy battle with dementia.
Visitation at Cooper Funeral Home on Saturday, December 30th from 5-7 p.m.
Funeral will be at 2 p.m. Sunday, December 31st at Latta Presbyterian Church, with a visitation at 1 p.m. in the Fellowship House prior to the funeral. Burial at Kentyre Cemetery to follow.
She was born in Dillon on June 30, 1931 to Vernon and Lawrence McIntyre, where she lived almost all of her life. She was married for 58 years to Don Barclay, until his death in 2010.
A 1952 graduate of Coker College, Betty Lou taught for over 20 years in the Dillon County School system, first teaching typing and business at Dillon High School, and after completing her Masters of Education from USC in 1981, taught Special Ed in the Latta Schools. She was a fierce advocate for children and adults with special needs and served on the Marion-Dillon Board of Disabilities and Special Needs for several years.
A devout and open-minded Christian, Betty Lou was a member of the Latta Presbyterian church. Along with her friend Nancy Hargrove, she led Bible studies every Sunday night at the Women’s Prison in Dillon for many years. With her husband and others, she helped found PADD, the Presbyterian Agency for the Developmentally Disabled, which now has 3 homes in Florence for developmentally disabled adults, and served for several years on the PADD Board of Directors. In 2022, she was named Board Member Emeritus.
Often seen giving tours and decorating for Christmas at the J.W. Dillon House, she served as an officer of the Dillon County Historical Societyand on the board of the Dillon Historic School Foundation; having taught for so many years in the then Dillon High School, her dream was to see the auditorium restored to its former glory.
Mrs. Barclay is survived by her two daughters, Shelley Barclay of New York City, and Chris Barclay of Dillon. She is also survived by her sister in law, Ruth Ann Weidner (Tom) of Baltimore, Ohio, several nieces and a nephew, her granddogs Archie and Homer, and her beloved rescue dog Nickaby.
Special thanks go to her caregivers, Scherell Richardson, Mamie Harrelson, Lateau Greer, Danielle Sweat, and Jerica Doherty, for all of their love, kindness, and patience. Betty Lou was a two time cancer survivor. In spite of her dementia, she claimed until the end that she could still “kick butt”, and that, she did.
Please honor her memory with a contribution to PADD, www.paddsc.org, 2350 Regional Road, Florence, SC 29501. And if you know of an elderly soul, please pay them a visit. It will mean the world to them.