Betty Ruth Anderson of St. James, MO. passed away at her home on October 15, 2011. Betty was 90 years, 5 months and 17 days of age.

Betty Anderson was born on April 28, 1921 to her parents: Paul Willliam and Mida Vance (Putman) Green.

There are many people we love to see in the course of our days, and looking forward to being with Betty was just the best. There was special revelation in getting to talk to her, that something rare in every conversation. The rare thing was, that she was a star. Whether it was philosophy, or just the latest news, Betty had a certain something that brought us back to her again and again. And oh how we loved to be with her and share moments. She is gone from us, and so are those rewards, of wit, of humor, and oh so candid revelations that sent us laughing and delighting for the unexpected joy that those brought to everything she did.

Her father Paul Green served in WWI, as a Chief Warrant Officer in the United States Navy. He was second generation Irish-American. His own father had left Ireland when he was only 13 years old.

Perhaps this lineage is what gave Betty her gift of singing. She sang in St. Louis from the time she was 19 with big bands on board the Admiral Riverboat, in clubs in downtown St. Louis, and later in Gaslight Square at the Palace nightclub. At the age of 23, Betty met her first husaband, Art Preis, when they were both musicians at KMOS radio. They had several duet acts, with Bob on guitar, while Betty sang, and they were part of several other groups that ranged from pop to country music
She described a vivid memory of hers, that as a little girl standing near the stage on the Admiral Riverboat, while her parents played cards, on the afternoon excursions, she dreamed of singing on that stage, Oh, and she did. Variously described in the St. Louis newspapers as "pretty songbird, Betty Green, "vivacious brunette" or "off the stage of the Admiral walked pretty Betty Green to win a raft of praise as the new voice in the Hotel Lennox Rathskeller..." "She has one of those low and mellow voices, large brown (her eyes were very blue) eyes, and a clever manner of putting across ballads, like 'More Than You Know," and "Betty Green, trim and tidy songvird." She traveled with the USO to Eastern Military camps during the 1940's and also sang at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago. The same article describes two of her featured numbers, "I Don't Get Around Much Anymore, and As Time Goes By." Those songs describe how much we will miss her, and how restricted her recent years have been. But oh the memories and the glamour photos and the stories of music will live on and on with our Betty, whose voice was mellow and melodic up until the end.

She and Bob bought a farm near Cherryville in the 1970's to raise horses and enjoy retirement. From there she attended St. James Trinity Episcopal Church, and upon her
husband's death, moved to St. James. Here, she met and married Dr. James Anderson. From their marriage in 1985, until his death in 1997, they lived in Doc Anderson's home on West Scioto, across from the James Memorial Library.
About her meeting Jim Anderson, Betty told a marvelous story about fate and destiny and things: When Betty and Bob Preis were in their busy careers with KNOX in downtown St. Louis, Betty stopped in at the local Lammert's department store one evening on her way home. She fell in love with a floor lamp there, an antique made from an authentic American flintlock rifle, and rushed home to get Bob to see it and buy it. When they got there, to her deep disappointment, it had been sold "to a doctor from down around Salem, somewhere."
Twenty-five years later when she first was a guest in Jm Anderson's home, well.... there was that lamp. He joked that she married him for the lamp. We know better, but we loved to hear her tell the story, and the lamp is remarkable.
She attended Beaumont High School on Natural Bridge Road, which was so close to the old Cardinals Ballpark, that they could hear the cheering. She and her sister Virginia Lee Green were both performers. Ginny danced for the Muny opera chorus from the time she was in high school. She preceded Betty in death in 1980. Betty Anderson had many friends and admirers in St. James, who are deeply saddened by her passing.

Surviving Betty Anderson are her neice: Katherine LeRoy and John Jedd of New York; nephew: Michael LeRoy of Texas and his daughter Amy LeRoy and dear friends: Gary and Marge Huffman of St. James, Mo.

Preceding Betty Anderson in death are her parents: Paul William and Mida Vance (Putnam) Green; and sister: Virginia Lee Green.

Services
Memorial Service was conducted on Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 11 AM at the Trinity Episcopal Church in St. James, Mo. with Father Steve Barber officiating.

Burial was in the St. James Cemetery in St. James, Mo.

All arrangements were under the direction of Jones Funeral Home in St. James, Mo.