Obituary of Elzabeth Buxton

Elizabeth (Bette) Buxton Born Irene Elizabeth Evans, she died in her home in Sterling, VA on Friday, June 26. Bette bravely fought recurring breast cancer for the past 10 years. She is survived by her husband of 34 years, Bruce Edward Buxton, and her three daughters, Angela (Jones), Aimee and Amanda, and her sons-in-law Brian and Joe. She was the beloved grandmother to Delilah and Archer Taylor who will miss her greatly. Bette was a sister to Eddie and to Pattie and an aunt to Nathan, Katie and Jeanne. Bette was a niece to Arthur and Julie Little of Fairfax. The family will feel her absence as she was a blessing to all. Bette was born March 15, 1950 in Arlington, VA and spent the majority of her years in Northern Virginia. She attended Fairfax High School and Northern Virginia Community College. Bette was a talented administrator working at Mitre Corporation, CSC, and at Reston Bible Church. Bette's great love was for education and she devoted much of her time to home schooling, teaching Sunday school, and conducting Vacation Bible School in her home - which blessed many young people over the years who remember her fondly to this day. Bette was admired for her courageous battle against her cancer. It never slowed her down and despite the affliction, everyone makes note of her constant sweet smile, kindness and encouragement to others. She was involved in raising cancer awareness and participated in Race for the Cure when she was able. She fought the good fight using her indominable spirit and never let the disease sideline her. Bette was a biblical Christian devoted to Jesus Christ and determined to live out her faith for the betterment of others. She had a positive impact on all who knew her. She participated in many Bible studies over the years and taught many women's groups. She was devoted to prayer and wrote many prayers which were placed in a prayer book at her church. Bette worshipped at McLean Bible Church in recent years which blessed her greatly and encouraged her in daily Bible study and prayer. She was a woman of conviction who lived out her beliefs. Her immediate family grieves their loss but celebrates Heaven's gain: a woman who was pathologically honest and truthful, fearless, kind and gentle, patient and sweet, always forgiving others and not condemning, a friend indeed to all. She genuinely cared for the needs of others and sought to help them achieve their best. The love of Christ controlled Bette and was the basis for all the love she received in return. Her friends sacrificially cared for her needs in her last days - selflessly and lovingly. Her family will remember her love for the beach, traveling to new places, and her love for Sudoku. Her daughters now focus on her attributes and seek to follow her example. Her husband remembers a wife who was a perfect fit for him and 34 years of marriage in which their love never stopped growing. Bette's life will be celebrated at the Adams-Green Funeral Home, 721 Elden Street, in Herndon, VA. A visitation is scheduled for Wednesday, July 1 from 6 to 8 p.m. and a memorial service on Thursday, July 2 at 11 a.m. Interment will follow the service at the Fairfax City Cemetery. Remembrances and condolences can be emailed to BruceEBuxton@gmail.com. The family encourages donations to the Metastatic Breast Cancer Network (1-888-500-0370) where 100% of donations go to metastatic breast cancer research. Flowers may be sent to the Adams-Green Funeral Home. Betty's Eulogy written by her husband, Bruce After 34 years of marriage I am still discovering so many things about who my wife was. As the condolences flow in, so many of them are from "kids" - now adults and married with children - who pay tribute to Bette for her impact on their lives. After our marriage in 1981 - Betty consistently provided Vacation Bible School in our home during the summer. She also faithfully and frequently taught Sunday school and volunteered for AWANA programs at church. Now these "kids" are passing on the values Bette communicated and modeled for them to their children to groom them in their walk with Jesus. They remember Bette as kind, sweet, loving, patient, and a "calming" influence. Bette was always serious in her faith, always reading and studying scripture. She was the one who always did her Bible Study homework. Because she was so saturated with God's Word she just naturally imparted to others the characteristics we see modeled by the Jesus of the Bible. Betty lived believing that God was always watching. She was compulsively honest and truthful, habitually kind and loving. She had a sweet countenance that I could see every day - right up to the time of her departure. Many of you know what I mean. Bette was consistent in her Christian walk. She left a journal she kept from 1981 through 1983. Everything she recorded affirms her fidelity to Biblical precepts and shows how intent she was in honoring Christ. Her faith was genuine and authentic. She even recorded the start of her relationship with me and how she wanted to ensure that our dating honored Christ. Betty wrote, "Help me Lord to bring glory and honor to You in the physical aspects of my dating relationship with Bruce. I am glad and thankful that I am so responsive to very possibly the husband you have chosen for me. I pray that I will always be as responsive, and more, to the man I marry. I pray for Your help and grace to not do anything in a dating relationship that would hinder complete joy and fulfillment physically once married." Bette wanted us to accentuate the spiritual and avoid the carnal involvements until marriage. Reading it reminds me of how sweet our courtship was. We both shared a "first love" - not so much for one another as for Jesus. Boy did I marry above myself. God gifted me with a blessing of a wife. Bette lived 15 years in adversity and pain. She developed Trigeminal Neuralgia in 2000. TN is severely painful - excruciating. Bette was dependent on pain killers to manage her pain level. Despite her pain she was radiant at her daughter Angie's wedding in 2003 and did all she could to ensure a beautiful and special day for a very nervous bride. Those around her knew what a struggle she had in disguising her own discomfort for the sake of her daughter's happiness. When Bette became cancerous in 2005 her first impulse was to surrender it to God. She sought nutritional remedies for fighting the disease based on the real life successes of others. Her perspective was not that the nutrients had magic powers but that God had designed our bodies to be self-correcting. She incorporated prayer and scripture with the healthy diet she adopted. She sought her God as the Great Physician, to administer to her His stated power as Jehovah Rapha - the God who heals. Her approach was real, sincere and in concert with her understanding of scripture and with the simplicity of her faith. Since Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever why shouldn't He choose to heal her. It was just a simple matter of God's will for her in Christ Jesus. She would accept anything God sent her way. One of the difficult verses in scripture is found in 1 Thessalonians and reads: Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Bette came to understand this precept well as her condition advanced and disabled her arms and hands and weakened her legs. She was dependent on others for all her needs. Bette became helpless but she was never hopeless. The more dependent she became the closer we drew to one another. Perhaps, the greater the adversity the greater the joy when we are finally released from the affliction. If so she is exultant in eternity. Free of the cancer and its afflictions. With working hands to serve Him, and the leg strength to transit the heavenly terrain to worship and adore Him, fellowshipping with all the saints. It has been five days since her departure and already Bette has become my touchstone for how I should live. She is holding me accountable for doing things right. She would have me be as truthful and honest in all things as she was. Over the last few months, I saw Jesus come to our house persistently to minister to Bette's needs. This Jesus was in the guise of Bette's sweet sisters in Christ - friends and Bible study members who ministered the unconditional love of Christ selflessly and sacrificially. The true Church of Jesus was evident in them. They loved Bette and thus showed themselves to be real disciples of Jesus Christ. As Christ says in Matthew 25: Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for Me Bette and I never had a day when we couldn't find blessings to be counted. Bette greatest desire was that she had provided an example for her daughters. She wanted to model Jesus for them so effectively they would seek to honor their mother by following in her footsteps. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:1: You follow my example, as you see me follow the example of Christ Her hope was no longer placed in a cure for the cancer - the medical options had run out. Her hope was in her faith - that Jesus has prepared a mansion for her in His Father's house - a place with no pain, no sorrow, no tears, where a glorified body would be hers - a body that worked perfectly, free of cancer and TN. As it says in Exodus 15, the Lord made a way for the undrinkable bitter waters of Marah to be made sweet for His people in the wilderness. The Lord has indeed made the bitter waters of cancer sweet for Bette. A woman so sweet, tender and kind. A woman so faithful and fruitful. A woman so loving, selfless and caring. I will miss her deeply, but always love her dearly. I am sure many of you feel the same. So let's join together today and celebrate her life and her liberation from disease. For I am sure that she has found her faith to be absolutely true.