Eleanor Grace Friel Mears, known affectionately as “Betsy,” of Leicester, North Carolina, and most recently, the Center on Aging and Health in Erwin, Tennessee, went to be with Jesus Wednesday, September 17, 2025.
Born February 25, 1940, and raised in Marlinton, she was a daughter of the late Arthur and Hulda Friel.
She met her future husband, George Mears, while she was working in Washington, D. C. Following marriage and two children, they relocated to Western North Carolina, where they began a long life together. She raised her children as a homemaker, and then pursued a banking career, retiring in 2005. In 2009, she became a caretaker for her husband, George, who was diagnosed with cancer. After he passed away in 2013, she became an independent, productive member of her community, being a member of Bell Methodist Church in Leicester and pursuing a life of volunteer work. She loved caring for her home and tending to her yard, plants and flowers, and was a lover of blue birds.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her brothers, Eugene, Elmer, Everett and Ernest Friel; and a granddaughter, Ashley Snodgrass.
She is survived by her sister, Evilene Beverage, and husband, Roy; son, Mark Mears, and wife, Nicole; daughter, Joni Lynn Dorman and Joshua Bryant; five grandchildren, Aaron, Averie, Samuel, Isaiah and Abigail; and a great-grandchild, Mahagony.
Graveside service was held Tuesday, September 23, 2025, at Bell Methodist Church Cemetery in Leicester with Pastors Rick Powell and Robert James officiating.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Bell United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 36, Leicester, NC 28748 or to Amedisys Hospice in Elizabethton, TN
