of Conway, AR

February 4, 1939 - November 4, 2025

Betsy Jean Spragins Gillaspy-Williams, of Conway, Arkansas, passed away on November 4, 2025, due to heart failure. She was born February 4, 1939, in San Antonio, TX, to James Betts Spragins and Jean Margaret Spragins. Betsy graduated from Little Rock High School in 1957 and Arkansas College (now Lyon College) in 1961, where she majored in English. She also completed a Master of Science in Education from Henderson State University. She taught elementary and middle school in Magnet Cove, Glen Rose, Hot Springs Lakeside, and Russellville schools for over 25 years. She was passionate about education and was loved by most of her students and their parents, but feared by some. As one of the few teachers with a hyphenated name in the early 1990s, she was affectionately known as Ms. Gilly-Willy. Betsy was a woman of strong faith who lived her life in gratitude and service to others. She was known for her caring and kind nature and for consistently being there for those in need. Although small in stature, she was mighty in her environmental activism, growing her own food, planting trees, recycling everything that could be recycled, reducing her carbon footprint, starting sustainable gardens, and advocating for changes to state and local policies to conserve natural resources. She was a force of nature. She is preceded in death by her husband, Caral Williams, and no doubt she has already put him to work on projects in heaven.

Betsy is survived by her children: daughter, Betsy, son Art, and wife Julie; son Stephen and wife Allison; five grandchildren: Emma, Nathan, and wife Kayelee, Claire, Betsy, and Gillian; two great-granddaughters, Riley and Scottie; brother, Jimmy Spragins, and wife Theresa, and numerous cousins and extended family.

A celebration of Betsy's life service will be held on December 6, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church of Conway. All are welcome.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to the Betsy Gillaspy-Williams Green Fund at Ferncliff Camp (https://ferncliff.org/the-betsy-gillaspy-williams-green-fund/) or to the First Presbyterian Church in Conway (https://www.fpcconway.org/giving).

 

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