FRANCES EARNEST BUSSELLS, “Betsy”
April 10, 1926
-- February 28, 2022
Frances ‘Betsy’ Bussells passed away from natural
causes surrounded by people who loved her.
She had been living in Napa, CA, since 2017 when she joined her
daughters, her granddaughter, and their families, because it was becoming
difficult for her to live alone. She
will be returned to her beloved Northern Neck and buried next to her husband
Isaac “Bud” Bussells.
Betsy was born April 10, 1926, in a convent in
Saumur, France to Frances Campbell Earnest and Herbert L. Earnest. Her father had been invited to attend the
French Cavalry School there. As her
father was a career Army Officer she happily spent her childhood on Calvary
bases throughout the Midwest and Southeast.
When her father was stationed in Washington D.C.
they bought their first home and Betsy attended the National Cathedral School
for Girls. As WWII neared, her father
moved the family out of D.C. and to relative safety on the Northern Neck of
Virginia. They bought Riverview Landing on the Rappahannock River, just outside
of White Stone, VA. She had many stories
of being a teenager in the summers there with her own little boat and a large
group of friends, many of whom remained her lifelong friends. She attended and
graduated from St. Margaret’s School in Tappahannock in 1944 and then attended
Hollins College.
She married and over the course of ten years had
four children: Ann born in VA, Ted and
Fred born in Texas, and Molly born in Washington D.C. The family moved from Virginia to Los Angeles
in January 1965. All the children
graduated from high school in California, and now single again in 1977 she
moved back to the Northern Neck to take care of her mother until she passed
away. Betsy then made the good decision
to remain there and purchased her own home in White Stone. She lived there for 37 years.
Then followed the happiest part of her adult life. She involved herself in the community and
Campbell United Presbyterian Church in Weems, VA. She worked a variety of jobs, including as a
bank clerk, then as a secretary and assistant in a tax office, and then an
insurance office. She was then a program
coordinator for the Senior Learning Dept. on the Community College.
Betsy worked tirelessly raising funds for the Boy
Scouts Camp; she was a charter member and later secretary of the Lancaster
County Crime Solvers. At her church she
headed up a group of ladies called the “Knit Wits” where she taught several women
how to knit and the group produced many afghans to be given to new babies and
members of the community who would benefit from a warm blanket.
She reconnected with friends from her high school
group, the most significant of which was Isaac ‘Bud’ Bussells. When they
married some years later, they had known each other for fifty years. They had a
sailboat (the Jennifer Lee) for several years and then they wanted to wander farther
and purchased a Maine Trawler (the Katie Brown). They explored the Chesapeake
and then went up and down the Inland Waterway and spent one winter on the boat
in Florida. They loved being on the
water and took a river cruise from Moscow to St Petersburg in Russia, and then
they took a freighter down the East Coast, through the Panama Canal and across
the Pacific to New Zealand and Australia.
They got off the ship and spent a month in Australia, then flew to Los
Angeles, made touch with family, rented a car, and then drove home via Canada.
They went together to a 50th Anniversary
commemoration in Guam where Bud served as a Marine during WWII. Betsy and Ann
went to France in 1994 to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the
Liberation of Brittany, France where her father had commander troops.
After the boats became too difficult to manage, they
spent a couple of years driving a fifth wheel and spent another winter in
Florida.
Bud passed away in Sept. 2015 and in 2017 she moved
to Napa, CA, to be with her family.
Betsy was a strong woman who stood up for herself,
was very resilient, healthy, and moved very quickly. She loved opera, classical music, all kinds
of art and dancing. She loved being on a
boat and traveling. She was an excellent needleworker doing embroidery,
needlepoint, crochet and most especially knitting. She taught numerous other people to knit and
continued herself until her hands just would not work anymore. For years she always carried a knitting bag
and a current project for times when she might have to wait. She made helmet liners for Marines stationed
in Afghanistan, and adorable little teddy bears for small children that she
donated to Christmas boxes.
Betsy would enjoy almost any sports game on TV, but
she was a dyed in the wool baseball fan especially the then Washington Senators
when she was a teen, and then the Washington Nationals. When they won the World
Series in 2019 she could not have been anymore delighted.
She always knew what was going on in the world, and
her children grew up knowing it was important to stay informed and to always
vote.
She is already missed greatly.
Betsy was predeceased by her parents Frances
Campbell Earnest and General Herbert Ludwell Earnest; her brother Clyde Tener
Earnest and his wife Marie Earnest; her son Edward Frederick Earnest Craver,
and her husband Isaac ‘Bud’ Bussells.
She is survived by her children – Cynthia Ann Holmes
(Dennis), Theodore Frankton Craver Jr. (Marian) and Molly Elizabeth Peck
(Rob); grandchildren Clifford Tait
Holmes, Theodore Frankton Craver III (Nellie), Mary Celeste Mikel (B.J.),
Elizabeth Goodhue Carlitz (Jared), Cameron Elizabeth Shaw (Edgar) and Timothy
Tener Shaw (Nora); and nine great grandchildren – Ted, Evelyn, Charles &
Lucas Craver; Ella, Michael & Jonathan Carlitz; Talia and Daniela Cruz.
She is also survived by her niece Barbara Earnest
Dawson (Larry); grandnephews – Chris Dawson and Chandler Dawson (Heather); great
grandnieces Campbell Dawson & Adie Dawson and great grandnephew Tener
Dawson. Also her nephew Herbert Ludwell Earnest II (Dot) and their sons Jim and
Joe.
Many heartfelt thanks to everyone who has been a
caregiver to Betsy over these last few years.
You are truly angels and we really needed you. Special thanks to Collabria for hospice care;
love to Monica, Rapini, Chrissy & Krystal at Napa Senior Living.
