Betty Jean DeGolyer

Betty Jean DeGolyer was born on June 23, 1928, in Manassa, Colorado, to Ruth Carrie Dunn and Lyndon Heber Johnson. She passed away peacefully on August 25th, 2026, in Caldwell, Idaho.

Growing up, she split her time between the homes of her mother and her maternal grandparents, Simeon and Anna Dunn. She spent a great deal of time alongside her aunts, uncles, and cousins in a large, close-knit family. She graduated from Alamosa High School with the class of 1946 and then attended Adams State, where she received a business certificate. She worked at the Alamosa National Bank for many years. She loved to dance, read, and learn about the world and was an avid consumer of true crime documentaries.

Just days before her 20th birthday, on June 17, 1948, she married James Troy DeGolyer in the Salt Lake City Temple. She and James first lived in Alamosa, then briefly in Mesa, Arizona, before making their home on a farm just outside La Jara, Colorado. They raised five children: Kerry James, Janet Alane, Kris William, Leslie Ann, and Eric Vaughn, amid farm chores, school events, church activities, piano lessons, and 4-H. In the 1970s, the family moved to La Jara, where they lived for more than 40 years.

After their children were grown, Betty Jean and James served two missions together and spent many years serving as temple workers, including in Denver, Colorado; Washington, D.C.; and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Betty Jean also served in the nursery and Young Women program and, for many years, sang alto in the La Jara 2nd Ward choir.

In 2013, they sold their family home and moved into a care facility as James’s health declined. Following his death in 2017, Betty Jean went to live with her daughter Leslie in Agate, Colorado. In 2023, she relocated with Leslie and her family to Nampa, Idaho.

Betty Jean was preceded in death by her parents, father Lyndon Heber Johnson (1944), adoptive father William Emil Koch (1996), and mother Ruth Carrie Dunn (2011); her husband of 68 years, James Troy DeGolyer (2017); her eldest son, Kerry James DeGolyer (2005); her granddaughter, Alexi Nicole DeGolyer (2001); and her great-grandson, Kerry Edward Taylor (2015).

She is survived by four of her children: Janet Wells of Escondido, California; Kris DeGolyer of Charlotte, North Carolina; Leslie (Kevin) Stocking of Nampa, Idaho; and Eric (Tami) DeGolyer of Albuquerque, New Mexico. She is also survived by 18 grandchildren and 31 great-grandchildren, whom she loved fiercely.

Betty Jean will be remembered for her deep love of family, faith, and service and for the generations of our family whose lives were shaped by her love and example. The family invites all those who knew her to join them in joyful remembrance of Betty Jean. There will be a viewing on Thursday, September 24th, 5-7pm at Rogers Funeral Home in Alamosa, Colorado. The following day, Friday, September 25th, there will be a viewing at 10am at the La Jara LDS Chapel, with her funeral service to follow at 11am. She will be buried in the Sanford Cemetery in Sanford, Colorado. Following burial, a luncheon will be served for family and friends at the La Jara LDS Chapel.