Betty Sue Imler

Betty Sue Imler

June 18, 1931 - April 5, 2024

     Betty Sue Imler (LaMotte) (Hargus), of San Diego, California, 92, passed away Friday April 5th, 2024. She was born June 18th, 1931, in Marathon, Texas at the beginning of the Great Depression. Her parents were George and Ida May Hargus, long-term residents of Marathon. Betty spent a delightful childhood in the West Texas town of Marathon, graduating from high school in 1949. She was known for being a very energetic young person, involved in essentially everything going on at the high school. She made some lifelong friends at this time, which she remained in contact with until near the time of her death.

     Betty attended college for two years including time at Sul Ross State College in Alpine, Texas and at the University of Mississippi. Subsequently she moved to Corpus Christi, Texas and worked as a secretary. She married Homer LaMotte in 1953 at the Marathon Methodist Church. She and Homer had two children, Gary and Carla, and lived in a variety of locations as Homer was in the military with many transfers. Once retiring from the military, they lived in Palatine, Illinois, Fort Stockton, Texas, and for most of the time Houston, Texas. She later met and married Robert Imler in 1980. They lived in Sugarland, Texas until 1994 and upon Bob’s retirement settled in San Diego, California and lived together until his death in 2005. She continued to live there on her own until late last year at the time when she began to require further assistance.

     Betty was an extremely loving mother. She tenderly cared for her two children. She had a real estate career while her kids were growing up. Her family all came to Marathon to her parent’s house to celebrate many holidays, especially Thanksgiving and Christmas. She was very fond of the outdoors, and made many trips with her family to Big Bend National Park. Camping and lakehouse trips were common during this time. She loved wide open spaces and the fresh clean air of West Texas and Colorado. She delighted in the West Coast during retirement with several trips to Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks and the California Coast. When having a particularly enjoyable time she would gleefully say “Live like there is no tomorrow.” She could strike up a conversation with just about anybody within her presence and was able to get them to talk about themselves. Her energetic and happy go lucky spirit will be dearly missed.

     She was preceded in death by her parents, sister Frances Springfield (whom she dearly loved and talked to daily), brother Bill Hargus as well as both of her spouses. She is survived by her two children Gary (Grace) LaMotte and Carla (Ted) DeBont. She is also survived by three grandchildren Emilie (Ryan) Clink, Jessica (Mike) Schmidtbauer and Amy (Dylan) Martinez as well as three great grandchildren Annie, Zachary and William.

     The immediate family will be staying in Betty’s old family home in Marathon (now an Airbnb), where she was born, where her mother Ida May Hargus lived until she passed away in 1997. Her funeral services will be held at the Marathon Cemetery in Marathon, Texas at 10:30am Saturday April 20th, 2024. All are invited to attend.

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