Janie Sue Beets
94, Columbia
Janie Sue Beets saw the face of Jesus and reunited with loved ones who had gone before her on Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2023, after 94 years filled with wonder, kindness, beauty and love. Born Janie Sue Moore into a family in Improve with three brothers and two sisters, she spent most of her life in Marion County.
She was affectionately known as “Granny” to not only her many grandchildren but also to other family members and friends alike. She loved life and never lost her sense of awe as she sought to put just as much beauty back into God’s creation as she found in it.
After raising four children, she opened a floral business called Sue’s Flowers in downtown Columbia. For years, she worked as a florist, making people’s homes and workplaces beautiful and their weddings and special occasions brighter. At her own home, she could frequently be found with a garden trowel, shovel or water hose, growing and tending her gardens of azaleas, hydrangeas, impatiens, roses, tulips, irises, flowering trees and fir trees. She was often accompanied outdoors in recent years by her dog, Jackson, who greeted her early each morning to join her for her morning walks.
When she wasn’t in her garden or making floral arrangements, she was imagining other worlds and bringing them to life on canvas with her gorgeous acrylic and oil paintings: two sheep stand on the side of a hill looking down a path where light is breaking through the clouds; a peaceful stream runs through a red and orange autumn wood; a man and woman ride a horse-driven sled past a cozy home surrounded by snow-covered evergreens; people walk through the streets of snowy downtown Columbia as she remembered it when she was a child; Santa braves the winter snow to deliver gifts to children; an idyllic English cottage’s windows glow in the countryside; and worshippers gather in a church nestled beneath a cold mountain. With every brushstroke, she put love and care into the artwork her hands made, often giving her paintings away as gifts to friends and family.
She loved Christmas and could not wait to pull out her Christmas trees, wreaths, garlands, lights, ornaments, wooden reindeer, and Santa dolls each year to adorn her home in holiday cheer, inside and out. She always insisted Santa was real and set out to ensure everyone else knew it, too.
She was surrounded by love in her final days and never missed a chance to say, “I love you.” She loved the Lord and was a longtime member of Calvary Baptist Church. She now walks eternally in gardens and among mountains, streams and woods worthy of her endless wonder alongside those who went before her.
She was preceded in death by parents, Dewey and Lutia Moore; husband, Edward Ingram Beets; son, Ed Beets (Billie Kay); grandsons, Jason Holmes and Gene Prine; brother, Floyd Moore (Merle); sisters, Delores Baughman (Idus) and Anne Moore Haddox (Roy); and other special friends and family.
Survivors include her three daughters, Marianne Brasseal (Ken), Susan Griffis and Rebecca Pittman (Doug); daughter-in-law, Billie Kay Beets; 11 grandchildren, Laurie Yates (Roy), Cliff Stringer (Jennifer), Janie Terrell (Brent), Ashton Pittman (Scott), Matt Johnson (Candace), Josh Riley (Myra), Jim Riley (Alicia), Scarlett Parker, Shelly Johnson, Amy Anderson (Ritch) and Andy Beets (Laken); 22 great-grandchildren; 16 great-great-grandchildren; brothers, George Moore (Charree) and Oscar Kenneth Moore (Helen); and many nieces, nephews and other family members and friends who will cherish her memory forever.
