Betty Franklin

Betty J. Franklin, age 78, of Greenback, TN, died Wednesday (Nov. 12, 2025) after suffering from Alzheimer's dementia. She was a resident of the memory care unit at Foothills Transitional Care & Rehabilitation in Maryville, TN.

Betty was a graduate of Porter High School in Wildwood, TN, and attended the University of Tennessee on a business scholarship. She worked in logistics for a building supply company and multiple trucking companies before taking leave to care for her husband, a Vietnam veteran who served as a U.S. Army MP/sentry guard dog handler. She enjoyed music, reading and visiting the Smoky Mountains.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Jerry David "Cowboy" Franklin; parents, James W. and Cora B. Chester of Maryville, TN; and a brother, James D. Chester of Maryville, TN.

She is survived by a sister, Katherine D. Bradburn of Maryville, TN; a brother, Thomas F. (Sharon) Chester of Knoxville, TN; three nieces and two nephews.

Companion Funeral Home & Cremation Service of Athens, TN, will handle her arrangements. She will be interred beside her husband in the Veterans Garden of Honor at Grandview Cemetery in Maryville, TN. No services are planned.