Bettye Jean Pepper Campbell

Bettye Jean Pepper was born the second of seven children on the spectacular day of January 23, 1936 to Charlie and Barbara Pepper. She departed this earthly realm on April 13, 2017. She was a loving and devoted mother, sister, and aunt. She was raised in Bedford County, Tennessee before moving to Nashville, TN. In 1952, Bettye graduated from Pearl High School in Nashville, Tennessee at the age of sixteen. She matriculated at Tennessee State University graduating in 1958 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education. She pursued her career in education in Gary, Indiana where she taught at Chase Elementary School from 1967 until her deserved retirement in 1996—twenty-nine years of which twenty-seven of those years she was never absent. During her employment with the Gary Public School System she received her Master’s degree from Indiana University in 1972. Even in retirement, Bettye continued her passion of educating children by serving as an Intervention Specialist for an additional ten years. Her most important and everlasting achievement in her lifetime was accepting Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior. She was a dedicated member at Village First Baptist Church for many decades. She was also a member of the Northwest Indiana Jazz Club, Senior Citizens Friendship Club, and a lifetime member with the TSU Alumni Association. She loved to travel and visited 12 countries on 5 continents. She is preceded in death by husband Archibald Campbell, daughter Debra Sue Pepper, parents Charlie and Barbara Pepper, sister Ann P. Thomas, and brother James A. Pepper. She leaves to cherish her memory one daughter, DeAngela Lynne Dixon, one son, Darryl Maurice Dixon; one brother C. Maurice Pepper, three sisters-Nancy (Robert) Nelson, Ruth (Levi) Bridges and Ruby Miller; seven nieces- Sybil, Rochelle, LaVeda, Tasha, Janavia, Victoria and Shameka; six nephews – John, Keith, Rodney, Secret, Sunqeet and Jairois; two granddaughters – Ronnisha LaJean and Brittany Brishe; two grandsons-Keenan Grant and Javon Maurice; three great grandchildren-Tatiana Kiera, Keenan Grant, and KayLynne DeAngela; aunts Elizabeth P. Bowman and Frances (Otha) Denham. Very special cousin, Josephine Davis, and special friends Hattie Palmer, Mary Pruitt and Era Twyman