Betty Fay Calkin Stickel Cranfill was born on March 29, 1937, to John and Clara Calkin. Betty died on June 13, 2025, at her daughter’s home, where she was cared for in Mountain View, AR, at the age of 88.
Betty’s surviving relatives are a daughter, Patricia Lynn Stewart and her husband Danny of Mountain View Ar.; one grandson, Zachary William Stewart and his wife Casey of Mountain View, Ar.; one great-grandson, Zachary Nicholas Stewart and his wife Emma of Mountain View, Ar,; one great-granddaughter Adalynn Ryan Stewart of Mountain View, Ar.
She is preceded in death by her husband, George Stickel; her mother, Clara Calkin; her father, John Calkin; and three brothers, Billy, Earnest Ray, and Robert Calkin.
Betty attended school at Beedeville, AR., and grew up around Amagon, AR. As a teen, she accepted Christ as her Savior and was baptized into the Church of Christ. In 1956, she met her love, George Stickel got married on November 8, 1956. In 1957, a daughter, Patricia Lynn, was born; she was their only child. Betty worked side by side with her husband on the row crop farm, which they had in Poinsett County, raising cotton, rice, and soybeans. Then in 1964, they bought a large cattle farm near the Stone and Cleburne county line and started a busy lifestyle raising cattle, broilers, catfish, and hogs, plus she was always raising a garden, and all the other chores that go with the farm. She was a very hard-working woman. They sold their farm and built a new home at Southside, where they moved in 1980 and started the B&B Flea Market at Pleasant Plains, AR. She loved collecting antiques and collectibles.
George died in 1992, and she lived and took care of her own home herself. She loved gardening and her flowers, and her yard always showed it with something blooming in it. She took great pride in working and caring for it.
Betty moved to Mountain View to be closer to her daughter in 2013 and got remarried in 2015 and he died in 2020.
Visitation will be from 1 pm on Thursday, June 19, 2025, at the School Ave Church of Christ, with the funeral following at 2 p.m. Her final resting place will be at the “Memory Garden Cemetery’ in Johnstown. The Pallbearers are Zachary William Stewart, Zachary Nicholas Stewart, Billy Calkin, Steve Wilson, John Thomas, and Mike Fankhouser.
