Betty Ann (Cooper) Sullins, 94, went home to be with the Lord December 28, 2020. She was born July 28, 1926 in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Earl W. and Jessie L. (Rogers) Cooper. Betty had one sister, Ellen, who was five years older than her, who died in 1996.
Betty graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1944, while also dutifully employed at the Civil Service Commission. This was during the war in 1942 when Betty, being only 16, attended school from 8am-12pm and then reported at 2pm to work until 5pm in downtown Washington, DC. Many evenings and weekends she loved to work alongside her father in the family business of Cooper & Cooper Professional Stenographers. She worked in several positions at agencies of the federal government, including the Navy for the Journal of Medicine and for the FDA in the Food Division. Meanwhile she took additional work part-time with the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists (AOAC Intl.). She took great pride in her final government job at GSA where in Payroll she made sure 26,000 employees got paid on time, before retiring after 27 years at the age of 55. Betty went on to be Operations Manager of the kitchen at Florida Bible College, then worked as a secretary at Columbia Bible College, putting her daughters through their college education. In essence she never stopped working as she found many ways to organize, assist and work until her death. She modeled to all a great work ethic with an enthusiastic attitude.
In 1946 Betty married Van Buren Sullins, who died in 1972. She is survived by six children: James “Jim” Sullins, Donald “Paul” Sullins, David Sullins, Patricia Larson, Steve Sullins, and Laura Rajavuori, and 12 grandchildren.
Betty had a passion for helping missionaries around the world. In 1991 she started Mission Nannys, an organization that focuses on sending people to help with missionary children’s education and their domestic responsibilities to enable them to focus on the mission work. Over 26 years Mission Nannys sent 300 people and it is still in operation today. She was always very involved in her church throughout her lifetime, including running children’s church programs and the church library that included sending 720 boxes of books overseas to help schools. She penned and published her own book, Mission Nannys (Christian Faith Publishing: June 2020. Available on Amazon.). She participated as a missionary herself by serving as a Team Leader for Teen Missions International on four different summer teams. Betty lived out JOY (Jesus, Others, Yourself) in that order. She loved to help others and organize projects, often with a pun and a laugh. Her children all knew her as a loving, dedicated and sacrificial mom. She loved spending time with family, especially making time to spend with her grandchildren. Betty has left an indelible imprint with all fortunate enough to have crossed her path. She will be greatly missed.
Interment will be by private ceremony at Mount Olivet Cemetery, Washington, D.C. A memorial service is planned at Santa Barbara Community Church on July 28, 2021 at 11:00 AM. For more information please contact Laura Rajavuori at bettys.memorial@reiprop.com.
