Betty June Byrne Carnes, Sept. 16, 1926 " Oct. 4, 2011 Betty June Byrne Carnes, age 85, died peacefully Tues., Oct. 4, at John Knox Manor, Montgomery, Ala., after a long battle with cancer. Born Sept. 16, 1926, in a lumber mill hospital in Bellamy, Ala., she was one year old when her family moved to Artesia, Miss. She graduated from Artesia High School in 1944 and from Mississippi State College for Women in 1948. A few weeks after finishing the W, she married the love of her life, James Robert Carnes, whose devoted partner she would remain for 59 years. After serving for seven years as secretary at First Methodist Church, where she was a lifelong member, she accepted a friends invitation to apply for a teaching job at Lee High School and never looked back. Teaching math to restless teenagers was her calling, and over the course of 31 years in the classroom, she touched literally thousands of young lives. Foremost among her many personal interests was the care and tending of her beloved First Church. She was an avid seamstress, cook and lover of wild plants, which she often collected from country roadsides. A capable rider from an early age, she settled later in life for watching horse shows and races on television. After giving up her home on Southside, she experienced special blessings in the loving communities of Trinity Place in Columbus and John Knox Manor in Montgomery. She was preceded in death by her parents, Lloyd F. and Mary Kennedy Byrne, her husband, James Carnes, and her brother, Albert Byrne. Left to mourn her passing and celebrate her life are her son and daughter-in-law, Jim Carnes and Erin Kellen, granddaughter Celia Carnes, nephews David and Stephen (Deborah) Byrne, great-nephews David (Amy) and Jonathan (Julie) Byrne and great-niece Emily Byrne, numerous cousins and countless friends. Visitation will be Thurs., Oct. 6, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Memorial Funeral Home. Funeral services are scheduled for 11 a.m., Fri., Oct. 7, at First United Methodist Church,with Dr. Sam Morris, Rev. Tony Proctor, Rev. Anne Russell Bradley and Rev. Ron McDougald officiating. Burial will immediately follow at Friendship Cemetery. Pallbearers will be B. A. Atkins, Jonathan Bryne, Tommy Hunt, Don Kimbrell, Scott Perkins and Andy Tentoni. Honorary pallbearers will be Craig Davidson Joe Fant, Ed Humphries, the Stuckenschneider Sunday School Class and UMW Circle 4. The family requests that memorials be sent to the First United Methodist Church Loaves & Fishes Fund, P.O. Box 32, Columbus, MS 39703 or a favorite charity.
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