Betty Jo Anderson, 89, of Phoenix, Arizona passed away on May 13, 2011 in Phoenix from complications of Alzheimer's.
Betty Jo was born October 3, 1921 in Vernon, Texas to Joseph and Josephine Campbell. During the depression her father and brother Jim had come out west and were working in mines in central and southern Arizona while she and her sister Ione lived with various aunts in Missouri, Montana and Minnesota. She followed her brother Jim to Flagstaff's Arizona State Teachers College in the late thirties and graduated from Arizona State College in 1943.

While at ASC she met Fred Anderson and they were married March 11, 1944 in Oakland, California where he was completing preparation to go to Italy and fight in World War II. When he returned from the war in 1946 they moved back to Flagstaff. In 1953 Betty Jo went to work for the Coconino County Board of Supervisors eventually becoming the Clerk to the Board. Betty Jo was elected County School Superintendent in 1972 and served in that position until her retirement in 1984.

She loved Flagstaff and its four seasons and would always tell her children"On Christmas day you might roller skate, ride your bike or go skiing, but on Easter we always go skiing." Betty Jo and her daughter Nancy were huge Price is Right fans and traveled to Las Angeles to sit in the audience with high hopes of hearing the famous "…Come on Down" and though they never made the front row it was a memory they shared with all of us. She traveled extensively and one memorable trip was a visit to Alaska with her brother and other family members in rented motor homes highlighted by a stint in Denali National Park. Betty Jo was a long time member of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary parish in Flagstaff and her trip to the Vatican in 1987 was a very special moment in her life

She moved to Phoenix in 1993 to care for her oldest daughter Karen and remained there after her death in 1996. She was a resident of The Stratford and over the last few months was under the special care of Hospice of Arizona.

Mrs. Anderson is survived by her son Michael (Ann) of Flagstaff, 4 grandchildren, 10 great grandchildren and 3 great great grandchildren. She also leaves behind her brother Jim (Eleanor) Campbell, Kernville, CA, sisters Ione Brodigan, Dallas, TX, Norma Ann Snyder, Salina, KS, and JoAnne (Dan) Childress, Zephyr, TX. She was preceded in death by her husband Fred, daughters Karen Carroll, Nancy Hance and Kathryn Anderson.

Services were private and the family suggests contributions in her memory to the Hospice of your choice.