MIAMI (ABP) — Bettye Cothen, 83, wife of former Southern Baptist executive Grady Cothen, died Jan. 10 in a Miami hospice. She had Parkinson's disease.
For 63 years, she was married to Grady C. Cothen, retired president of the Southern Baptist Convention's publishing agency, the Sunday School Board, now called LifeWay Christian Resources. He also was president of Oklahoma Baptist University and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
Born in Chattanooga, Tenn., as Martha Elizabeth Major, she is a former trustee of Golden Gate Theological Seminary in Mill Valley, Calif.
She is survived by her husband; daughter Carole Shields Westbrook and her husband, Hugh Westbrook, of Miami; daughter Mary Thompson and her husband, Kenneth Thompson, of San Antonio, Texas; son Grady Cothen Jr. and his wife, Lelia Routh Cothen, of Cheverly, Md.; and nine grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
Bettye Cothen's funeral was scheduled for Jan. 11 at Miami Shores Baptist Church in Miami, with burial Jan. 13 near Mascot, Tenn. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested memorial contributions be made in her name to the Baptist World Alliance.
“Bettye Cothen played a strong, loving, and influential role in the life of her family and many Southern Baptist institutions,” the family said in a statement.