Betty Turner Mears, 87, of Florence, and wife of longtime South Carolina Baptist pastor and former Baptist Courier trustee Ted Mears, died Aug. 30, 2022.

A native of Columbia, she attended Winthrop College and the University of South Carolina. After she and her husband moved to Louisville, Ky., she studied at the W.O. Carver School of Missions and was secretary to the entire Carver School faculty. They later were called to Double Pond Baptist Church, Blackville, and also served South Carolina Baptist churches in Lugoff, Great Falls, Florence, Kingstree and Hartsville. They returned to Florence in retirement. She taught kindergarten for many years in both public and private schools, including Ebenezer and Kingstree First Baptist. She was active in WMU at the local, associational and state levels, and served on the Nominating Committee of the South Carolina Baptist Convention. For 10 years, she was involved with the Home Mission Board’s Smoky Mountain Resort Ministries.

Survivors include her husband of 67 years, three children, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by a granddaughter, Emmie Mears Webb.