Betty Ruth McCoy

Obituaries

Betty Ruth McCoy

Betty Ruth (Rose) McCoy died at her home in Gig Harbor Sept. 8, 2016. She was 92 years old.

McCoy was born Nov. 21, 1923, in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Her family later moved to Los Angeles, where she grew up going to movies and roller skating with friends and having picnics at the beach with her parents. After high school, she worked for California Shipbuilding in Wilmington. She enlisted in the U.S. Navy in November 1943.

After finance school in Indiana, McCoy was stationed at the U.S. Naval Air Station at Ford Island, Hawaii, where she met her future husband, U.S. Marine Billie McCoy of Dallas, Iowa. Billie is fond of saying she outranked him then and continued to do so throughout 70 years of married life.

The two were married Aug. 25, 1946, in Pleasantville, Iowa, and returned to the Los Angeles area. After the Korean War, Billie enlisted in the U.S. Army Guided Missile Program and Betty began 19 years as an Army wife, including tours in Okinawa, Italy, and many stateside assignments. When Billie retired in August 1974, they built a home on their property at Lake Minterwood, where they lived ever since.

One grandson preceded Betty in death. She is survived by her husband, her four children, seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. All will remember her as a loving mother and grandmother who was always doing little things to make her family feel special.

Betty loved animals (“critters,” as she called them). In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to the animal charity of your choice.