Betty Lou Stribling, 90, passed away on Saturday, Dec. 22, 2018, at the Greenbough Health and Rehabilitation Center in Clarksdale.
Mrs. Stribling was born in Clarksdale on Aug. 7, 1928, and was the daughter of the late Farrar Huffman Cannon and Mary Ella Findley Cannon.
Mrs. Stribling was raised in Clarksdale and graduated from Clarksdale High School in 1946, where she was Homecoming queen. Mrs. Stribling studied art in high school under Mrs. Lois Long and her senior year was given the opportunity of studying human anatomy while drawing live models (fellow students paid by the school to pose for her).
After high school, she graduated from Stephens College in Columbia, Mo., with a bachelor of arts degree in art and a minor in communications. In 1949, she married James Lloyd Stribling, Jr.
Mrs. Stribling worked at radio station WKDL for eight years, hosting a live interview show and writing a daily script for a disc jockey.
In 1977, Mrs. Stribling studied portrait painting for three years from Paul Pengner in Memphis.
In 1980, Mrs. Stribling earned a bachelor of arts degree from Delta State University in music, having graduated with a major in voice and a minor in piano. She began teaching voice in 1981, later adding piano until 2014.
She taught Sunday School at Clarksdale Baptist Church from 1952 until 2015, sang in the choir, played in the adult Handbell Choir and served on numerous committees.
She leaves behind one son, Scott Cannon Stribling and his wife, Perian Malvezzi Stribling; two grandsons, James (Jamie) Lloyd Stribling, IV of Clarksdale and David Michael Stribling of Brandon; and a great-granddaughter, Memrie Stribling.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by a son, James Lloyd Stribling III.
Visitation will be 9 to 10 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 27, 2018, with the funeral service at 10 a.m. at Clarksdale Baptist Church. Burial will follow in Oakridge Cemetery.
Meredith-Nowell Funeral Home in Clarksdale is handling the arrangements.
