Betty Jo Rhyne

Betty Jo (“Jodi”) McDonald Rhyne age 79 of Amarillo went home to be with her heavenly Father on November 13, 2025. She was a beloved mother and grandmother and a blessing to all who knew and loved her.

There will be a celebration of life on November 22, 2025, starting at 1:00 pm at 1500 S Bonham, Amarillo TX.

Betty Jo was born in Walla Walla, Washington on April 18,1946. She grew up in Amarillo, TX with her brother-James, and sister- Barbara. She graduated from Palo Duro High School in 1964. She attended Texas Women’s University after high school where she studied speech and hearing therapy but returned home before finishing due to family and personal needs. In high school she showed off her talents for singing, dancing, acting – winning awards in musicals like “The King and I” and Annie in “Oklahoma.” She had a gift for the dramatic and had a beautiful voice which she shared with her girls in church and at home during family gatherings. Her love for music and drama was a big part of her personality and that love carried over into her children and their lives.

She worked as an occupational therapist for Northwest Texas Hospital where she met the father of her children Dennis Rhyne in October 1969, to whom she was married for 25 years. She lived the life of an Army wife and mother living in Texas, Oklahoma, Germany, and Maryland, until returning home to Amarillo, Texas in 1980, where she spent most of the rest of her life.

Betty Jo had many talents that she shared with others throughout her life: singing, dancing, acting, crafting, sewing, cooking (debatable), storytelling, and teaching. Of all the things she did in life, she was always most proud of being a teacher. In the 1980s, she first directed and owned (with her husband) Creative Care Daycare Center in Amarillo where she taught and loved countless children. She closed the center but continued to work and teach children in her home as a registered home daycare. After her children were raised she later moved to Lubbock, TX and attended Wayland Baptist University where she completed her bachelor’s degree in education. From there she began teaching special education in the Lubbock Independent School District. She would return to Amarillo, TX a few years later where she spent the rest of her professional teaching career with the Amarillo Independent School District. She had developed a true love and passion for working with children with disabilities, focusing on teaching through the Homebound program in AISD where she taught K-12 to children who were too sick or disabled to attend school. She retired from teaching in 2008. She had a deep love for children and profound ability to connect with them.

Her proudest accomplishment by far though was in helping to raise her two strong and successful daughters who gave her three amazing grandsons. She loved her collections: VHS shows/movies (collection would put Hastings to shame), nutcrackers, figurines and collectibles from her travels, and even stuffed animals given to her by some of the children she taught and cared for.

She loved crazy things like peacock feathers, red roosters, and the color purple. She loved a good burger from Whataburger, diet coke, and plain glazed donuts. And she loved her family without condition.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Oris Phillip McDonald and Mary Elizabeth McDonald Wilson, her brother James McDonald and sister Barbara Sanders, and her nephew Eric Sanders. She leaves behind her loving daughters Kristina Hudson and husband Bobby Hudson, Tammy Bytheway and husband Bobby Bytheway; and her precious grandsons Caleb Rhyne (Hudson) and Joshua Hudson and Braxton Bytheway; as well a very special friend and Sister In-Law Eva Kathleen McDonald and her children Sarah Pate and Toby McDonald; and many cousins, nieces, and nephews. She was dearly loved and will be deeply missed.

In lieu of Flowers, please make donations to the Panhandle Angels Foundation, a charity that was near and dear to her heart. https://www.pafamarillo.com/