Extracted from The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA)
Sunday, March 20, 2011

OLIVER

On Sunday, March 13, 2011 Elizabeth Julia Werling Snider Oliver, known to all as Betty passed away at Live Oak Village assisted living community in Hammond, Louisiana.

Born in Vicksburg, Mississippi August 19, 1923 as the only child of Adam and Coin Werling, when her mother died in her early childhood she was raised by her aunt and uncle Annette and Billy Snider, in various locations in the Delta, mostly Clarksdale, Mississippi. Her uncle, JB ``Billy'' Snider was a newspaperman, editing and publishing a number of newspapers around the state of Mississippi. She attended Texas State College for Women, returning home to continue commercial art in her father's newspaper business.

In 1949 she married Hugh Gene Oliver, also of Clarksdale. The couple relocated to New Orleans, Louisiana where she raised children as Hugh attended Tulane University and then Tulane Law School. She stayed home as the family grew, continuing to provide a loving home-life for her children. Art, especially her newspaper print multicolored sketch drawings was part of life; marvelous seasonal murals on rolls of news print adorned the walls at home and of the childhood classrooms of her children. She later became the best law secretary Hugh Oliver ever had. She volunteered with church work, numerous philanthropic and political activities over the years. She was very proud of her accomplishments as an advocate of posttraumatic head injury in children after the severe injury suffered by her daughter and even went on to write a guide for caregivers dealing with similar circumstances. Always interested in exploring the bigger wide world, she traveled with Hugh much including to Europe and Asia including China.

The center of being home was around the kitchen table while she stirred the pot and those in attendance would get a taste. She was an excellent cook, frequently surprising family and friends with a new dish she needed tasters for as well as having predictably excellent seasonal meals for reunion occasions. Betty was an accomplished gardener who loved to get her hands in the ground, couldn't wait for the spring to burst forth so she could begin planting and digging again. Later in life she discovered rose gardening and had marvelous old roses. She had been a member of the New Orleans Rose Club. She was a devout Christian, during much of her life a member of the Anglican Church. She came late to the Roman Catholic Church at the age of 83.

Betty is survived by her five children: Whit and wife Molly of Tallahassee, Florida and their four children Adam, Cornelia, Claire, and Warren; Lise of Gloster, Mississippi and her sons Sean and Jesse; John and wife Misty of Hammond, Louisiana and children Ellen, John, and Avalon; Andrew and wife Tari of Hammond, Louisiana and sons Ian and Hugh McGee; and Charles and wife Elise of The Woodlands, Texas and their sons Nicholas and Carter.

She was preceded in death by her loving husband of fifty years, Hugh and her grandson Gavin Foster Oliver.

A memorial Mass will take place at Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Hammond, Louisiana on Saturday, March 26th, 2011 at 9:30AM with a reception to follow.

She chose to donate her body to LSU Medical School in New Orleans for doctor training, a decision she made after both her son and grandson finished medical school at LSUNO, so no burial will follow right away. To paraphrase from scripture: she ran the race well, gracefully, having fought the good fight, having kept the faith, with a cheerful, prayerful attitude at all times. She will be missed greatly.

In lieu of flowers, she would want flowers to be sent to your local church for the Easter alter display but also donations may be sent to Catholic Relief Services, LSU Medical School New Orleans, Heifer International, or Generations Hospice in her name.