Not many people can say they’ve visited Antarctica. Then again, not many people are like Betty Douglas, who visited the frozen continent not once, but twice.
Douglas’ free spirit was one that led her to visit several countries and all 50 states — from the beautiful sands of Hawaii to the bursting geysers of Wyoming’s Yellowstone National Park.
Her love for traveling began when she and her husband, James, took a trip to Israel with their church in the late 1970s. From then on she never turned down an opportunity to explore — even if it meant going alone, said daughter Susan Douglas Woods-Ross of Birmingham, Ala.
“She wanted to go to Yellowstone National Park in the winter, but my dad didn’t,” Woods-Ross said. “So she said, ‘I’ll just go by myself,’ and she went out there and went cross-country skiing. She just fell in love with it.”
Although she had been nearly everywhere, Hawaii and Yellowstone were Douglas’ favorite places to visit. She and her husband also loved going on cruises, and they’d gone on more than 20 of them by the time her declining health forced a stop to their traveling in 2011, Woods-Ross said.
“They took so many cruises that they received a free one,” she chuckled.
Betty Louise Buttram Douglas of Woodstock died Wednesday from complications of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease while being cared for at WellStar Tranquility at Kennesaw Mountain. She was 81.
A memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday at Hillside United Methodist Church in Woodstock. Southern Cremations & Funerals at Cheatham Hill in Marietta was in charge of arrangements.
In addition to being avid travelers, Douglas and her husband enjoyed volunteering at WellStar Kennestone Hospital in Marietta, a passion for about 13 years. Betty did everything from working in the gift shop to pushing patients in wheelchairs, and she and her husband served as co-presidents of the volunteers in the early 2000s, said Kim Farmer, the hospital’s project assistant.
“Betty had a big heart and wanted to be here to make a difference in the patient’s lives,” Farmer said. “She had a heart of gold and would do anything for anybody.”
But Douglas’ love for travel and devotion to helping others couldn’t compare to the importance she placed on family. She worked for Delta Air Lines and Airborne Freight Corp. early in life, but only for a few years because “her career was her family,” said Woods-Ross.
She would often bring photos of her grandchildren with her when she volunteered at WellStar Kennestone, ready to brag on them, Farmer said.
“She was just always so proud of her grandchildren,” she said. “She has a great family, and I know she’s going to be dearly missed.”
In addition to her daughter Woods-Ross, Douglas is survived by her husband of nearly 64 years, James B. Douglas of Woodstock; another daughter, Anita Douglas Phillips of College Park; three brothers, Gerald Buttram of Woodstock, Va., Barry Buttram of Jonesboro, and Dennis Buttram of Powder Springs; one sister, Linda Buttram Cochran of Jasper; and three grandchildren.
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