* Betty Sue Fowler Buttram; Citrus Rancher
Citrus rancher Betty Sue Fowler Buttram died Friday at Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura after a brief battle with cancer. She was 69.
She was born Feb. 21, 1932, in Wilson, Okla., to Louis and Mary Phillips. She attended school in Oklahoma and was the eighth-grade valedictorian.
After moving with her family to Santa Paula, she graduated in 1949 from Santa Paula High School. Two years later, she graduated from Santa Barbara Business College.
She worked at the Houston Lumber company in Santa Barbara and at the naval base in Port Hueneme. She retired after 32 years of service at General Telephone and then pursued her passion for citrus farming.
She was preceded in death by her first husband, Herman Lee Fowler, in 1987.
She is survived by her husband, Warren Buttram of Oxnard; sons Rick Fowler of Oxnard and Michael Fowler of Mechanicsburg, Pa.; daughter Cynthia Mercado of Oxnard; mother Mary Phillips of Santa Paula; sisters Mary Lou Fields of Santa Paula and Shirley Christenson of Wilkeson, Wash.; and seven grandchildren.
Visitation will be tonight from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Ted Mayr Funeral Home in Ventura, which is handling the arrangements. Services are scheduled Friday at 2 p.m. at the funeral home, with burial following at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park in Ventura.
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