Mary Elizabeth (“Betsy”) Campbell Deyle Norwood

Born June 15, 1940 in San Antonio, TX. Her parents always called her “Betsy.”

She was the only child of J Will Campbell and Mary Elizabeth Campbell.

Her Father was a US Army pilot before WWII and a commercial pilot after WWII.

Betsy attended public schools in Ft. Worth, TX, through the 6th grade; she attended public schools in San Marcos, TX, in the 7th, 8th, & 9th grades; she attended St. Stephen’s Episcopal School in Austin in 10th grade & half of 11th;

she attended San Marcos High School in 2nd half of 11th grade & all of 12th.

She graduated from San Marcos High School in 1959.

She attended Colorado College in Colorado Springs from fall 1959 to fall 1962.

She lived in Austin with her parents from fall 1962 until spring 1964 where

she attended and resided at the University of Texas for part of that time.

She returned to Colorado College from spring 1964, graduating in early 1965. She was a member of the Alpha Theta Chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta.

She worked in Colorado Springs, CO, as a social worker in an acute care rehab hospital. She started graduate school at the University of Texas in Austin where she began working towards a Master’s Degree in Social Work. She moved to Denver, CO and began working as a social worker while attending graduate school at the University of Denver to complete her Master’s Degree in Social Work. After completing her MSW, she continued to work in Denver area hospitals as a social worker.

In Denver she met Rudolph Raymond Deyle, a Ph.D. Clinical Psychologist. He had been married before and had two sons of high school age and a 10-year old adopted daughter, but he and his first wife had divorced. Betsy and Rudy were married in 1975, and lived in Greenwood Village, CO. Betsy loved animals, especially cats. She had many of her own and would welcome any stray that came her way. She loved watching all the raccoons, foxes, deer, and other wild life in her neighborhood. But in the late 1990’s, Rudy had liver cancer, and he died in 1998 of heart failure. Betsy lived alone in Greenwood Village and continued working as an MSW in Denver area hospitals until she retired in 2004.

In 2003, Betsy got a call from David Norwood, brother of Betsy’s high school classmate Frank Norwood. Betsy and Frank had gone together in high school, but were no longer going together when they graduated in the spring of 1959. David graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis on 6 June 1959, and had 30 days of leave in San Marcos before he had to report for duty aboard his U.S. Navy ship. So when he found out that Betsy was only a little over 2½ years younger than he was, he dated her during that month. But afterwards, David reported for duty aboard his U.S. Navy ship and Betsy entered Colorado College. They wrote to each other briefly but then went their separate ways.

David and his first wife married in 1964, but in 1994 she died of an intracerebral hemorrhage. David had already retired, and he lived alone for almost 9 years until he found photos that were made of Betsy and him in 1959. He called Frank and asked whether he knew anything about Betsy from their high school reunions. Frank said yes, she married a Ph.D. Clinical Psychologist and lived with him in the Denver area for over 20 years; but he died in 1998 and she has been living alone ever since. David asked Frank, “Do you have her phone number?” So Betsy had been living alone for over 5 years and David had been living alone for almost 9 years before either of them learned about the other. He called her on the phone in August 2003. They married in Lakeway, TX, on May 14, 2005.

Betsy died of congestive heart failure in the memory care section of LongLeaf of Bee Cave, TX on February 11, 2024 at the age of 83. She was an only child, and both her mother and her father were themselves only children; so Betsy never had any brothers or sisters, brothers-in-law or sisters-in-law, nephews or nieces, aunts or uncles, or cousins. She never had any children of her own; only two step-sons (natural sons of Rudolph Deyle and his first wife before they divorced) and one step-daughter (adopted by Rudolph Deyle and his first wife before they divorced). David Norwood has also never had any children, either natural or adopted.

Betsy was cremated in Austin, TX, and there was no funeral service, as she had literally no family in Texas. But there were 9 girls in the San Marcos High School Class of 1959 who called themselves “The Crew” and were especially close friends in high school and have been so ever since. The high school and married names of the other members of “The Crew”: Sandra Dowden (Eastwood), June Gunn (Smith), Dotty Damon (Hord), Kita Hyatt (Rutherford), Ann Scrutchin (Cauthorn), Bettie Geisen (Green), Sue Frady (Bawcom), Vivien Franklin (a.k.a. Vivien Rasjidah).  

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