Betty Jean Rutland Sumner, 81, of Lenox died Sunday, February 17, 2013, at her residence. Funeral services will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 21, 2013, in the Chapel of Bowen-Donaldson Home for Funerals. Rev. Bill Allen and Dr. Danny Ray will officiate with burial to follow in the Rutland Family Cemetery. Mrs. Sumner’s grandchildren will serve as pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers will be members of the Tift Regional Medical Center Pink Ladies Auxiliary. The family will receive friends on Wednesday, February 20, 2013, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Bowen-Donaldson Home for Funerals.
Mrs. Sumner was born on September 10, 1931 in Tifton and was the daughter of Charles Robert Rutland and Lutitia Baker Rutland, both deceased. She was also preceded in death by her husband, W. Howard Sumner, who died in 2008; one son, Danny Howard Sumner; four brothers; and three sisters. She was a homemaker and had served as a Pink Lady at Tift Regional Medical Center since 1976. She loved gardening and growing and caring for her flowers.
Mrs. Sumner is survived by two sons and one daughter-in-law, Dale and Betty Ann Sumner of Jennings, Florida and David Lee Sumner of Tifton; two daughters and sons-in-law, Dona and Gene Palmer of Carrizozo, New Mexico, and Debi and Joel Shell of Lenox; one daughter-in-law, Sandra Braswell Sumner of Lenox; one sister, Peggy Godwin of Lenox; nine grandchildren, Christopher Kalenian and his wife Amanda, Wesley Dale Sumner and his wife Rachel, Melissa S. Roe and her husband Brad, Jonathan Howard Sumner and his wife Jennifer, Lee Sumner and his wife Joy, Liz Sumner, Ty Howard Sumner and his wife Nancy, Natalie Shell and Emily Shell; and seven great grandchildren, Taylor Kalenian, Romey Rose Kalenian, Mia Kalenian, Michael Nathaniel Sumner, Lena Victoria Sumner, Jonah Wesley Sumner and Sara Grace Sumner.
Flowers will be accepted or memorial gifts may be made to Hospice of Tiftarea, P. O. Box 747, Tifton, GA 31793.