Betty “Dr. Bea” G. Stewart, age 85 of Menomonie, formerly of Asheville, North Carolina, passed away Monday, January 6, 2025 at Our House Assisted Living.
Betty Greene Stewart, MD was born October 29,1939 to the late Hazel (Bryce) and Clarence H Greene in Pavo, Georgia. From an early age her love of the outdoors and adventure prevailed so it was no surprise that, once graduating from Thomasville High in 1957, she embarked by train to Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri. There she pursued sciences and Latin. With her equally adventurous college roommate, Libby Layden, she transferred her junior year to complete her undergraduate at University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill with a BA in Biology and acceptance into UNC’s College of Medicine. During her medical training she met and married Henry Lee Stewart of Staten Island, NY and joined him at Duke University School of Medicine. Her medical training would include Neurology Intern at Duke and Neurology Residency at the University of Florida Teaching Hospital in Gainesville. Because medical school isn’t challenging enough, she also had two children during those years. Jonathan was born in Chapel Hill and Heather in Gainesville.
Life would change with her divorce such that Betty with her children would return to Durham North Carolina where she completed a Duke residency in Psychiatry then lived on a hobby farm outside of Wake Forest. With her father in declining health, she returned to Southern Georgia where they lived for many years until 1986 when she moved to an area known as Spring Mt in Fairview, North Carolina. She once compared Spring Mt to its sunsets in a letter she wrote to her mother, “everyday is different and always beautiful.” She had found her happy place.
After nearly thirty years on Spring Mt she retired from medicine, downsized and returned to Chapel Hill to be near Jonathan and his wife, Beth, but on a cold December day in 2021 she moved once again to be close to Heather and her husband, Carl, in Menomonie, Wisconsin.
Betty’s life was not just about the places she lived nor her professional life. She loved her children, she loved life, her friends, and especially experiencing and learning new things. The adventures over the years were unique and memorable: yearly trips to NYC to see her Duke med school chums, Monette and Geoffery, and traveling with them too; attending Broadway plays; sailing the yacht Libra from Morehead City, NC to Puerto Rico; canoeing and camping trips with Bill and Nina; fox hunting with the Live Oaks Hounds; going to Greece with her children; participating in Christmas bird counts with Milton on the Georgia Barrier Islands; and going on many cultural or birding trips throughout the New World and Europe, even going to Vietnam with Annie. The birding trips were numerous, never boring, and included some of her dearest friends.
“Venit, Vidit,Vicit” may not have been her quotation, but it was what she did!
When asked how to describe Betty, many might say “fiercely independent, generous, intelligent, ground breaking, and Mom.” She will be missed deeply by her children, including MaryBeth, extended family, and many friends.
Betty is preceded in death by her parents, her elder brother Harris Dewey Greene and former husbands. She is survived by her younger brother Michael of Thomas County, Georgia, her son Jonathan C Stewart and daughter-in-law Beth (Tollison) of Chapel Hill, daughter Heather E Stewart and son-in-law Carl Jalowitz of Menomonie.
The family wishes to thank the staff of St.Croix Hospice and Our House Assisted Living for their care and support.
In lieu of flowers memorials are suggested to Stepping Stones of Dunn County 1602 Stout Road, Menomonie, WI 54751 or Chippewa Valley Free Clinic 1030 Oak Ridge Drive, Eau Claire, WI 54701.
A Visitation will be held from 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 12, 2025 at Olson Funeral Home in Menomonie, WI. In April, A Celebration of Life will be held in the Asheville, NC area with details updated as arrangements are organized. Final memorial will be at Salem Baptist Church Cemetery in Pavo GA at a later date.
To share a memory, please visit obituaries at www.olsonfuneral.com.
