Mary Elizabeth "Betsy" Pylate Simpson's Obituary
Mary Elizabeth Pylate Simpson (Betsy), 80, died May 25, 2023, with her family by her side in Germantown, TN. Visitation will be held on Thursday, June 1st from 5-7pm at Memorial Park and Cemetery with a brief graveside service on Friday, June 2nd at 10am.
She was born December 8, 1942, in Eudora, Arkansas, to Frank and Juanita Pylate. Her father was a farmer and ginner in the Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi Delta. Betsy, as the youngest of three children, had older brothers Donald and Jimmy. While the family spent most of Betsy’s school years in Wilmot, Mississippi, they moved back to Eudora around 1960 where she finished her senior year at Eudora High School.
Betsy spent summers visiting family in New Orleans and riding her horse in the fields, forest, and wilderness of the Delta. An avid horse lover throughout her life, her equine partners were Chris, Baby, Salt, and most recently, Cheyenne. Cheyenne is a registered Tennessee saddle horse with many a parade and west Tennessee horse trail under his saddle. The flag bearer of the Canale Farm Equine Drill Team, Cheyenne was a reliable and steady mount in every way imaginable.
Betsy attended college at the Mississippi College for Women where she majored in Psychology. There she met Edgar Lee Simpson from nearby Mississippi State, and although he was not a horse, he was as strong as one. They dated for a couple of years and after graduation got married and moved to Nashville. Betsy was awarded a full ride scholarship to Vanderbilt University to complete her master’s degree. In all her years of formal education, Betsy only received one grade lower than an A, a B in her first semester at Vanderbilt. She graduated in 1966 with a master’s in Audiology and Speech Pathology. Her thesis was published in the American Journal of Medicine.
The Simpsons moved to Memphis in 1966, and Betsy started her career for the Shea family as a research audiologist. She held several different positions and roles in her 40 years of employment with the Shea family and their various hearing clinics. In 1967 their first child Randy was born, and Jennifer joined them in 1970.
Attending Germantown Presbyterian Church and living in several suburbs of Memphis and Germantown, Tennessee, Betsy lived her life quietly at home as a staunch supporter of her family. She was an avid University of Memphis basketball fan and an unyielding supporter of her husband, children and grandchildren’s many interests and hobbies.
When she retired in 2008, she returned to her life’s passion—her horse, Cheyenne. The friends and memories she made at the ‘Barn’ with Barbara Lohn were some of the happiest moments of her life.
Always sharing a warm heart, listening ear, and kind word, her family and friends will miss her candor, wisdom, and humor.
Preceded in death by both her parents, Mary Elizabeth Simpson is survived by her husband, Edgar; her brothers, Don Pylate (Sue) and Jimmy Pylate (Judy); her two children, Jennifer Young and Randy Simpson (Tona); and her grandchildren, Cydnee Young Brown (Parker), Camille Young, Kaitlin Raye Simpson, and Jackson Simpson.
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