Portrait of Betty Jean Tennison. IMB Photo

Betty Jean Tennison, an International Mission Board missionary emeritus who shared the gospel in Portugal, died July 22, 2026. She was 100.  

Betty Jean was born Oct. 31, 1925, in Fort Worth, Texas, to the late Fred Garnet Waters and Johnnie Hale Waters. She graduated from Paschal High School, Fort Worth, Texas; attended Howard Payne University, Brownwood, Texas; and received the Bachelor of Religious Education from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas.  

After high school, Betty Jean worked for two insurance companies. At the end of a year, she decided to attend college in preparation for full-time Christian ministry. She entered Howard Payne University in the fall of 1943 and there she met a young ministerial student, Grayson Tennison. They were married on June 1, 1945. Grayson and Betty Jean moved to Desdemona, Texas, where Grayson served as a pastor part-time and Betty Jean taught first and second grades in public school. During this time, they also enrolled in seminary. 

While seeking missionary appointment, Betty Jean recalled an associational Woman’s Missionary Union meeting where she heard about the needs in Brazil and felt a definite call to mission service overseas.  

In 1949, the International Mission Board appointed Grayson and Betty Jean missionaries to Brazil. She served as a professor at the Woman’s Missionary Union Training School in Recife and taught Sunday school. Later, they served in Portugal. 

She was preceded in death by her husband of 59 years, Grayson C. Tennison.  

A funeral service was held Aug. 1 at Gambrell Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.