Mrs. Elizabeth Bettie Abbie Duncan Kirkland
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Mrs. Elizabeth Bettie Abbie Duncan Kirkland

  • July 12, 1921 - September 17, 2011
  • Liberty, Missouri
  • In lieu of flowers the family suggest contributions to:
  • Liberty United Methoidst Church
    1001 Sunset
    Liberty, MO 64068
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Memories & Candles

“Dear Earl and Family, Bettie was a good friend and I so looked forward to seeing her every week at church. We always checked in with each other...Read More » ”
1 of 3 | Posted by: Vicky Freese

“she was such a dear friend ”
2 of 3 | Posted by: maxine farrar - liberty, MO

“To Earl Kirkland, Jim and Shirley Duncan and all family members: I am devastated by the death of my dear, brave, beautiful, longtime friend. ...Read More » ”
3 of 3 | Posted by: Laura Cramer Miller - Belmont, MA


Bettie Abbie Kirkland, 90, a gentle lady of grace and elegance, passed away on September 17, 2011, in Liberty Missouri. She was born on July 12, 1921 to M. Blanche Dawson Duncan and James T. Duncan of Smithville, Missouri. She attended Border Star in Kansas City and Smithville High School. She received a BA degree in Education from William Jewell College in 1942 and attended graduate school at the University of Colorado and William Jewell College. In 1943, Bettie married her dashing US Army Air Corp navigator, Earl Vance Kirkland, and lived in Texas, Colorado and New Mexico until WW II ended. She taught in several Missouri high schools during the time Vance worked as a PhD research chemist. She retired from the Liberty Hospital business office in 1984. Bettie was active in the United Methodist Church and PEO, the Clay County Historical Museum Association and the Women's Committee of William Jewell. She enjoyed golf and bridge in her early days and reading and knitting. She was a wonderful friend and cherished the relationships with her family. She was preceded in death by her husband and her parents. She is survived by her son, Dr. Earl John Kirkland of Cornell University of whom she was so proud; her brother, Dr. James T. Duncan Jr. and his wife, Shirley; sister-in-law Margaret Kirkland; her three nephews and niece and spouses, Thomas and Janice Duncan and Douglas and Cathy Duncan, Bob and Pam Kirkland and M. Elizabeth (Bettie) Kirkland and husband Paul along with five great-nephews and four great- nieces and their children. She will be missed by her cousins and friends from the United Methodist Church.