Bettye Jane Pupo-Walker (née Holland), died on June 30th, 2022, surrounded by her family and after living a full and rich life.
Bettye, also known as Bibi once she became a grandmother, was born in Nashville in 1938, the third of four children of Willard and Virginia Holland. A 1956 graduate of Springfield High School, Bettye graduated from nursing school in Nashville at St. Thomas in 1960 and practiced nursing for over 25 years. She married her husband, Enrique Pupo-Walker in 1960, and they were inseparable to the very end. Bettye is survived by her husband Enrique Pupo-Walker, three daughters, Yolanda (Matt Thompson), Gini (Eddie Wright-Ríos) and Elizabeth, and five beloved grandchildren, Elías, Sara, Eliza, Alec, and Maya. She is preceded in death by her parents and by her sister Melba Earle Mitchell. She is survived by her brother Willard Holland Jr, sister Sandy Heinrich, and many nieces and nephews.
Bettye grew up in rural Robertson County, attending school in a one-room schoolhouse as a child and living with her grandparents on a farm without electricity. A teenager of the Fifties, Bettye played basketball for her high school team and sang in a vocal quartet, ‘The B Sharps’. She went off to Nashville to go to nursing school, writing to her mother each week, living in a dorm, and becoming the independent woman that we knew and loved. She met Enrique, who was a graduate student at Vanderbilt University, and they explored the world together during their 62 years of marriage.
She loved cookbooks, cooking and eating good food, taking long walks on the beach, spoiling her grandchildren, listening to jazz, reading novels (usually several at the same time) and the newspaper, listening to NPR, and having afternoon tea, watching birds and her beloved Atlanta Braves. She learned Spanish while living in Spain for three years when Enrique ran the Vanderbilt-in-Spain program and remained fluent. She loved traveling, going with Enrique to many parts of Latin America, Europe, and the Caribbean.
Bettye worked as an ER nurse at Vanderbilt Hospital for many years, considered one of the finest and most capable nurses there – years later she was remembered for her grace under pressure.
She will be remembered for always caring for others, for speaking her mind, for teaching her daughters to be independent strong women, and for her dry wit, a sharp eye, and discerning taste.
Bettye requested that donations be made to the YWCA of Middle Tennessee in lieu of flowers. https://www.ywcanashville.com/get-involved/donate/
Visitation will take place at Marshall-Donelly-Combs Funeral Home (201 25th Ave., Nashville, TN 37203) on Saturday, July 9th, from 1-4 p.m., with a brief celebration of life at 3:15 p.m.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.marshalldonnellycombs.com for the Pupo-Walker family.
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