Betty Jane Maynard Nichols
Services for Betty Jane Maynard Nichols were held Saturday, July 15, in Antlers, Okla.
Betty Jane was born on Feb. 1, 1941 and went to be with our Lord on July 6, 2023. She was 82.
Betty Jane graduated from Antlers High School in 1960. She met Roy, her loving husband, in Dallas at the “It’ll Do” night club and married August 7, 1970. The young couples’ difficult early years almost led to divorce but their lives were dramatically changed upon acceptance of Christ as their Savior at the Grapevine, Texas Church of God. They were called into the ministry and leave a legacy of ministry that continues today through their children, grandchildren, and spiritual children.
Janie’s greatest desire was to serve Christ and let His light shine to others and lead her children in the way of the Lord — to honor God and to love people. She served as pastor’s wife and minister in the Church of God for 45 years, helping her husband, Roy, pastor three churches over a period of four decades in Ladonia and San Angelo, Texas and Alamogordo, New Mexico. Upon Roy’s death in 2004, she returned to Antlers and continued to serve as Adult Sunday School teacher for many years in the Hugo Church of God and after relocating to Cleveland, Tenn., in 2017 continued ministry by volunteering at North Cleveland Church of God’s Second Harvest food and clothing ministry as well as guest preaching and teaching until just a few weeks before her passing.
Janie was preceded in death by her parents, Eunice Kellett Maynard and Robert Maynard; her husband, strong, and his passion could be felt by everyone around him. Even when things were bad, and many of our football seasons were, Amaney never quit. Quitting was never part of who he was.
Amaney was a lot of things – intelligent, kind, driven, charismatic. The list could go on forever, but we will never be able to accurately describe how special he was or how much it meant to grow up with him. He was a massive part of who we are as a class, our identity. We are incomplete without him, and we always will be.
The heartbreak we feel won’t go away any time soon, but we’ve found what little solace we can in remembering the joy he brought to our lives.
We hope that you will, too. To Amaney’s family, thank you so much for raising an incredible person and then sharing him with us. We are grateful for the time we had with him and the memories we made.
Amaney was, is, always will be, the heart of the Class of 2014.
Roy Nichols; her siblings: Chester (Ruth) Bud, Ima Jean (James), Butch (Dustie) and Billy (Patti) Maynard.
She is survived by her sister, Mary Sue Fairless, her children, Donna, Jimmy, Jeffrey, Marlishia, and Theresa Nichols, 10 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren along with many nieces and nephews. A Celebration of Life service was held in Cleveland, Tenn., on July12 at the North Cleveland Church of God, officiated by pastor Mark Williams. The Antlers Celebration of Life service was held at Serenity Funeral Home, led by her son, Jimmy Felihkatubbee Nichols. Burial followed in the Antlers Cemetery under the direction of Serenity Funeral Service of Antlers.
