Mrs. Bettie Harris

HARRIS, Mrs. Bettie - Age 95, passed away Monday, June 24, 2024 at her residence. Family hour 10:00 AM Monday, July 1, 2024, from the Chapel of Lawrence E. Moon Funeral Home, 906 W. Flint Park Blvd., with funeral service commencing at 11:00 AM Rev. Ronald Wilson. Interment, New Calvary Cemetery, G-4142 Flushing Rd. Friends and pallbearers will assemble at the chapel 10:30 AM Monday. Mrs. Harris will lie in state in the chapel of Lawrence E. Moon Funeral Home and may be viewed from 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM Sunday. Called to the Journey Home, is the beloved matriarch of our family, Bettie Harris. Born January 30, 1929, in Somerville, Tennessee of Fayette County, she was the last child, out of six, to the parents Willie and Sallie (Henderson) Billingsly. Nicknamed “Skinny Mama” as a child, Bettie attended Brewers school in Somerville, Tennessee and was the daughter to sharecroppers. She came with her husband, Chester Harris, to Flint Michigan in the 1940s, as he worked for Fisher Body #1, a division of General Motors, and A.C. Spark Plug. They had married in Somerville Tennessee on November 15, 1948, and the two of them built and opened the first Black owned soul food restaurant, C&B, at the corner of 12 th and Elms Street in Flint, along with the first black beauty salon. Bettie had also been a member of the Eastern Stars, from being the wife of a Mason. She and Chester had also been members of Mt. Olive Baptist Church. Having once been the seamstress for Same Day Cleaners in the 1980s, Bettie loved to sew in her younger years and mastered complicated quilting techniques, as she had learned how to sew clothing and piece quilts from her mother. Bettie also loved to travel and took various ocean cruises across the Pacific, Atlantic and Caribbean with her family, as well as road trips of travel across the country. She would reminisce about her life of being a little girl, picking cotton, helping her father, playing with her brothers, and going fishing with her mother, who would cook her favorite food of sweet potatoes. Her biggest fear was that of snakes, as she always told the story of a Tennessee Blue Racer that had chased her as a little girl. She ran home to tell her mother, who later found and killed the snake. Any nature program that featured snakes always made her jump and yell out, which always made the family laugh. Bettie had seven children and leaves many people to cherish her memory. Three daughters, Arnell (Billingsly) Cicchini of Inkster, Elaine Harris-Olds of Flint, Karyn Lynita Harris of Flushing and two sons, Levern Wendell Harris of Louisville, Kentucky, and Jerry Lewis Harris of Cleburne, Texas. Bettie also leaves behind over forty (40) grand, great-grand and great-great-grandchildren as well as a host of nieces, nephews, and cousins across the country. Having lived a long and fulfilling life of 95 years, she had also lost many dear friends, cousins, nieces, and nephews along the way. Bettie will be dearly missed, having been the head matriarch of the family. Bettie was preceded in death by her husband Chester Louis Harris, two of her sons: Lawrence Edward Harris and Raymond James Harris, and grandson Thomas Barry Turner. Also preceding Bettie in death were her brothers: Robert (Kid), Cleo (Pistol) and James (Six) Billingsly and sisters: Willie Mae and Lula Mae Billingsly. A special “Thank You” goes out to retired doctors S. and K. Vemuri and T. Trevor Singh of Flint for their care over numerous years. Dr. Singh would always joke that Bettie was like a cat with nine lives. He, along with her present Oncologist/Hematologist Dr. Orimisan S. Adekolujo of the Karmanos Cancer Center, helped her fight her CLL for years. To all the staff and nurses from her journey, and the help and support of the McLaren Hospice team and Angel Manor of Clio, we thank you. A special note to her nurse Stephen, from Regency of Grand Blanc, who she jokingly called “the medicine man,” thank you for taking care of “Miss Bettie” along with the PT, OT, aides, and staff of that facility. Over the decades, there have been various doctors and caregivers who have touched her life and aided her, getting her through various health battles. Thank you all for your help, and thank you, Juanita, who was one of her friendliest Meals-on-Wheels drivers. Finally, the family wants to thank our relatives and friends for their kind expressions of concern and heartfelt sympathy during our time of bereavement. May God bless each of you and sustain a lasting peace within your souls. And thank you, the staff of Lawrence E. Moon F.H., for your caring services. Bettie’s final resting place will be next to her husband Chester, and near her son Lawrence, at New Calvary Cemetery in Flint, Michigan.

Mrs. Bettie Harris

January 30, 1929 - June 24, 2024