Betty Jean Payne Williams

Betty Jean Payne Williams, 89, passed away on Wednesday, May 6, 2026.

It was 89 years ago on Monday April 26, 1937, that Betty Jean Payne was born on a farm to P.W. and Effie Payne of Barnard, NC, in Madison Co. These were the depression years with the threat of World War II looming. Times were hard, but it made very strong people and Betty was one of them. She was always “tough as whit leather,” as the saying goes. Tragedy struck in 1942, and her mother died from an aneurysm of the brain. The very same thing would nearly take her own life 66 years later. She was almost 6 years old, the fifth of seven children. Her dad married again a few years later, adding three more children to make it 10 children. Her father, P.W., enrolled some of the children in Crossnore Boarding School in Avery Co., NC, so he could work. Betty was there during the school year and would go home for holidays and summer vacation. Betty met her future husband, Dean Williams, who was just out of the Navy and attending ASU for his teaching degree, at Crossnore when he came to visit a friend who was Betty’s basketball coach. They dated, with a chaperone of course. Betty graduated from Crossnore in 1955. She left and went to Asheville, NC, where she lived with her aunt Ruby and attended Blanton’s Business College for a yearlong secretarial course that she completed in 1956, and the same year, on August 3, she married Dean Williams and set up house in Blowing Rock, NC. On October 28, 1958, they welcomed their first child, Robyn Lynne and then their second child, William Dean, arrived on their anniversary, August 3, 1960. In 1962, they moved to Asheville where they spent the next 44 years.

Betty was a great cook, a great bowler, and she loved to can vegetables with family and make candy every year with her sisters. She could sew and crochet like an expert. She could just about look at anything and make it. Betty enjoyed working and was a jack of all trades, and master of all. Anything she put her mind to, she could do. She worked at Barbecue Inn as her first job after moving to Asheville and then American Enka. She was a secretary for Soil and Conservation in the courthouse downtown, but then she began working for Sarah Coventry, a job that she was made for. She became a very successful regional manager, winning many prizes and trips, but the biggest gift of all was her love of people. After Sarah Coventry closed 14 years later, she decided to go to cosmetology school with her daughter, Robyn. She soon opened a shop of her own, Brevard Road Family Hair Care, and was very successful. But what Betty cherished most of all, was family. Her family grew with Robyn (Joe) having three daughters and Bill (Susie) having two sons. She was so proud of her family. And felt so blessed. She retired after 11 years but then stayed busy helping her husband, Dean, coach middle school track and going on church mission trips to Haiti. And they loved to travel, visiting family and seeing the country. In 2004, she and Dean decided to move to eastern Tennessee where they always wanted to live. They were not disappointed. They loved the community and the people and their church Bowmantown Baptist.

In 2008, at age 71, Betty’s health was turned upside down with a brain aneurysm just like her mom had. But being “tough as whit leather,” she went on 18 years battling sickness, and she continued to read her Bible and pray to God daily, especially for those she loved and was concerned about. But while all this was going on, Betty and Dean‘s legacy was being added to with the births of 16 grandchildren from the East Coast to the West Coast. And her greatest joy was seeing them grow. And hearing stories about the accomplishments of her grandchildren and great grandchildren. But the number one thing that she wanted for all of them was that they were born again through Jesus Christ. She loved her churches that they attended: Mount Carmel Baptist, New Morgan Hill, Baptist, and Bowmantown Baptist. She wanted to walk for 18 years since the aneurysm left her paralyzed on one side and now, she’s walking with her Lord and Dean, maybe even running! Her family will love and miss her until He calls us home too.

She is survived by her siblings, James Payne, Zola Idol, and Doris Owenby; children, Robyn Williams Tounzen (Joe), and William D. Williams (Susie); grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Reisha Caldwell (Andrew) and Owen, Lainey, Gray; Tara Shirley (Michael) and McKenna, Avry, Lena, Cole; Miranda Wheeler (Michael) and Cohen, Stella, Eden Jo; Michael Williams (Leslea) and Salista, Hayden, Brooklyn, Jaxten, Deliah; and Joseph Williams (Natali) and Ellouise.

The memorial service will be held at the WNC State Veterans Cemetery Chapel, 962 Old US Hwy 70, Black Mountain, NC 28711, on Thursday, May 28, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. Inurnment will follow in the cemetery. Following the service all are invited to join the family for lunch and fellowship at the home of Joe and Robyn Tounzen 613 Pole Creasman Rd. Asheville NC, beginning at 12:30 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Four Seasons Hospice.

Groce Funeral Home on Patton Ave. is assisting the family.