Betty R. Ridling

Betty R. Ridling passed away on Wednesday morning, Jan. 24, 2024, at her home in Sulphur. She was born on June 15, 1944 in Sulphur to the late Loyd and Modena Ridling.

After high school, Betty and her Army husband, and their three children, moved around the country extensively. They settled in the Ardmore area where she became the first woman to work in the area’s oil refinery.

She moved back to the Sulphur area to care for her ailing parents and tend to her father’s local 50-year business, Bill & Loyd’s Hardware Store.

Throughout her retirement years, Betty cared for our community’s abandoned and unwanted felines. For decades, she tirelessly spayed hundreds of cats, at her own expense, to help curb the pet over-population crisis in our town. Her love and work for her animals made her a hero and an inspiration to so many.

She is survived by her three children, daughters, Vickie Conner and Gena Chandler and her husband Brent of Sulphur; and son, Joe Johnson of Tulsa. She is also survived by her beloved nieces, Julie Foster, Kathleen Stewart, Linda Beaty and Sissie Keck and their husbands. She will me missed by her family and her many furbabies. A memorial dinner for Betty will be held and announced at a future date.