August 24, 1930 ~ July 31, 2026 (age 95)
Betty Lou Muirhead, age 95, woke up in the arms of Jesus on July 31, 2026. We are certain that those she loved in Heaven were rejoicing and cheering, “Betty’s here!” Her lifesong was “Jesus Paid It All,” and she lived to tell His story of love and hope until He faithfully picked her up on Friday. Now, she joins “the great cloud of witnesses” as described in Hebrews 12; she’s still cheering us on. She ran her race well.
Her visitation will be held at 1pm on Saturday, August 8, 2026, at First Baptist Church, Eastland. Following the visitation and reception,Dr. Kevin Burrow will be officiating the service at 2pm with burial to follow at Eastland Cemetery under the direction of Lacy Funeral Home in Stephenville.
Betty was born in McKinney, TX, on August 24, 1930, to Rufus and Nora Paysinger. Looking back on Betty’s journey, it is amazing to consider all of the ways God guided her steps. He was the strength of her family as the six of them managed a farm and grew cotton outside of McKinney. Betty had so many stories of God’s help through the Great Depression; seeing God’s continual provision, riding her old mare to school in Bloomdale, and helping her daddy run the farm. Her stories grew in value every time we heard her tell them. Certainly, God used her early years for the strength, faith, and work ethic that carried her for nearly 96 years.
When Betty graduated from McKinney High School, she began working at the Fort Worth National Bank. She was very involved in the River Oaks Church of the Nazarene where she met and served with lifelong friends; now eternal friends praising God together. She was married at age 17, and after 13 years of marriage– including time working in California– she had her wonderful son, Tracy Johnston. She later married the love of her life, Jack Muirhead, Jr., on July 18, 1965. Together, they welcomed two daughters, Kelly and Kathy Jo. Through the years, nothing was more important to Jack and Betty than their children. They knew that knowing Christ was the foundation that held everything else in place. The First Baptist Church in Eastland was their church home, and Betty joyfully shared the Truths of God’s Word with the children’s Sunday school class that she taught.
Through the next 58 years, Betty joyfully worked as unto the Lord for her family and her town. She was blessed with many friendships as the secretary of Stephenville Production Credit Association in Eastland. She also enjoyed being a teller and bookkeeper for the Bank of Ranger in Ranger, TX. She even carried the nickname of “Bad News Betty” as she telephoned those who had written hot checks. We are sure she somehow even carried that news with grace.
In 1990, Betty began her most beloved and honorable job. She gratefully accepted a position with Sam Harris of Sterling Monument Company in Eastland, TX, as his first employee. Sam was just getting started, and he began with wise insight. He believed that having Betty contact bereaved family members by phone would carry a profound significance. It did. Betty gathered phone numbers from countless telephone books as she matched them up with surviving names from countless obituaries. Through the years, she offered sincere prayers with those left behind, and they in turn requested a visit from Sam to create a sketch of a monument for their loved one’s grave. She saw her job as a ministry of grace, and as part of that ministry she witnessed to and shared the gospel with hundreds and hundreds of the people with whom she spoke. Sam and Betty were a team of two that significantly grew. Currently, Sterling Monument is one of the largest monument companies in Texas. It is still family-owned, and Betty’s biggest honor…outside of her family… was to be a part of that God-given growth. She was forever grateful for that monumental experience.
Betty continued working for Sterling Monument until she was 89 years old! She loved her life in Eastland, and whenever she visited her children in Fort Worth and Fredericksburg, respectively, she was loud and proud about where she was from. Her trips to Walmart, the beauty shop, Mae’s Meat Market, Brookshires, Taco Bell, and church filled her hours in the 3 years that she was “retired.” But she never really retired. As a Christian, she knew that her time on earth was to serve God and others. She worked hard to bless her family and friends through delicious pecan pies, chocolate cake, roasts, and yes, phone calls. Betty never stopped calling to check on people and offer joy and prayers. It was a calling.
In 2023, at age 92, it was beginning to get harder for Betty to navigate her life and home. She had several friends who came in and assisted her with such love and grace. It was discovered that she had been getting around (pretty well, considering) on a broken hip. She was taken to Fort Worth to live near her Rogers family as she recovered from surgery. Though pain-free, Betty was never able to live on her own again due to mobility issues, but she loved making new friends in the Mistletoe Heights community, Christ Chapel Bible Church, and Mira Vista Court in Fort Worth. Everyone’s love for her made it a little easier to be away from her home in Eastland. The care that Betty received from Mira Vista Court Care Center and Vitas Hospice was exceptional. She was fueled by her grandsons’ visits and adventurous wheelchair rides, and she loved gospel songs led by her son-in-law and Hospice Chaplain, Marc Rogers. She loved her caregivers, and her family is filled with gratitude, wishing God’s blessings on every one of them.
As Betty’s family, we believe that right now in Heaven she is still thanking God for saving her, blessing her, and taking her to Heaven. She sees how big He is, and she knows He’s got us in His hands. She’s surely drinking a divine Dr. Pepper, and we can almost hear her laughter as her phone rings in her mansion. She will ALWAYS answer, and she will do so with her favorite statement of Truth, “Jesus paid it all.”
Betty was preceded in death by her parents, Nora and Rufus Paysinger, and her three siblings, Ruby (Paysinger) Morris, Clarence Paysinger, and R.C. Paysinger, her dear husband, Jack Muirhead,Jr., her late son-in-law, Shawn C. Brown, and her beloved granddaughter, Amanda Johnston. She is survived by her children, Tracy Johnston (Mindy) of Greenville, SC, Kelly Arledge (Harlan) of Fredericksburg, TX, Kathy Jo Rogers (Marc) of Fort Worth, Texas, 11 very loved grandchildren, 7 great-grandchildren, and many wonderful nieces and nephews.
The family would like to thank Mira Vista Court Care Center and Vitas Hospice for their expert, loving care. Also, for all of the love of the First Baptist Church and Praise Class.
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