Betty J Musgrave

Betty June Musgrave

Betty June (McNail) Musgrave of Marion, Illinois, died at 3:05 a.m. Monday morning June 28, 2021, at Heartland Regional Medical Center in Marion following apparent heart attack.

Born the youngest of three children on March 23, 1937, at the home of her parents Estess and Echo June (Angel) McNail, Mrs. Musgrave was 84. When she was just 17 months old her father was killed at the family-owned Green Valley Coal Mine and the family eventually moved in next door with her paternal grandparents Cleve and Lura McNail.

Growing up on Dykersburg Road in the eastern part of Williamson County, Mrs. Musgrave attended the Parks School and graduated Crab Orchard High School in 1954. She then earned her associate's degree from Southern Illinois University's Vocational Technical Institute.

During this time she met her future husband Olie Lee Musgrave at a high school basketball game in Goreville. Immediately smitten he asked her to marry him on their first date. It took more than one date but she eventually said yes and they were united in marriage on Sept. 1, 1956, at Coal Bank Springs Baptist Church where she was a member.

Mrs. Musgrave began her professional career at Bank of Marion before taking additional banking positions at Lawton, Okla., while her husband served in the U.S. Army, then Indianapolis before returning to Marion in 1960 when both she and her husband went to work at the Bank of Marion.

She gave birth to her son Jon Manning Musgrave in 1969 and left the banking world to raise him for five years before returning to the workforce at Distinctive Interiors and returning to SIU to work on her bachelor's degree in 1974.

She subsequently earned her bachelor's and then master's degree in education from SIU, before taking an instructor's position in the SIU School of Technical Careers. After her family moved to Jefferson County, she took a position in the regional office of education at Mount Vernon and helped start the first alternative schools in Mount Vernon and Centralia. Her career would spread more than a quarter century and four regional superintendents in Mount Vernon and Benton working to expand students' vocational opportunities in the high schools feeding into the Rend Lake and John A. Logan Community College Districts. Never wanting to quit she finally retired at the age of 80.

She was a long-time member of Second Baptist Church in Marion and Logan Street Baptist Church when the family lived in Mount Vernon. After moving back to Marion she participated in two mission trips to Chernivtsi, Ukraine, with her son and others from Second Baptist. Active in her Sunday School classes. She also sang in the church choir until last year and in a trio with the late Gerry Vaughn and Juanita Fisher when she was younger.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her stepfather John Springs, and her husband Olie who died in 2005. She's survived by her son Jon of Marion, brothers Robert McNail of Longview, Texas, Donald McNail and his wife Mary of Marion, and her sister-in-law Frieda Musgrave of Springfield, Mo.; nieces and nephews Vicki Jaco and her husband Clay of Longview, Texas, Kim Doron and her husband David of Hallsville, Texas, Lisa Crisp of Harrisburg, Angela Joy and her husband Barry of Ina, Robbie McNail of Harrisburg, and on her husband's side Sue Wahl and her husband Edward of Cape Girardeau, Mo., Jeanie Diemer and her husband Tom of Cape Girardeau, Carlos Gurley and his wife Sharon of Alto Pass, Bill Gurley and his wife Peggy of Jonesboro, Paula Wright and her husband Rick of Ullin, Debbie Musgrave and her mother Pauline Musgrave of Anna, as well as a number of grand and great nieces and nephews.

Binkley-Ross Funeral Home is handling arrangements. At her request a graveside service will take place at 10 a.m. Saturday, July 3, at Coal Bank Springs Baptist Church. Her pastor the Rev. John Howard will conduct the service with music by Danny Ward. In lieu of flowers the family suggest memorials can be made to either the Second Baptist Church Ukraine Mission Fund or Crab Orchard High School Scholarship Fund.

Binkley-Ross Funeral Home is handling arrangements. At her request a graveside service will take place at 10 a.m. Saturday, July 3, at Coal Bank Springs Baptist Church. Her pastor the Rev. John Howard will conduct the service with music by Danny Ward. In lieu of flowers the family suggest memorials can be made to either the Second Baptist Church Ukraine Mission Fund or Crab Orchard High School Scholarship Fund.