Betty Jean Cannell, daughter of the late Paul Thornton and Margaret Jines Forkum, was born on December 3, 1958, in Bernie, Missouri, and departed this life on March 8, 2025, at Mercy Hospital Stoddard in Dexter, Missouri, at the age of 66 years.

Mrs. Cannell was a former nurse’s aide for various nursing homes in Southeast Missouri. She attended Word of God Church and was a resident of Dexter.

On February 14, 2009, in Dexter, Missouri, she was united in marriage to Randy Cannell. Mr. Cannell survives of their home in Dexter.

Along with her husband, she is survived by her step-mother, Betty Lee Cogwell of Ravenden, Arkansas; by her brother, Carl Thornton of Yuma, Arizona; by two step-brothers, Marty White and Randy White of Manila, Arkansas; by her half-sister, Lillie Thornton of Washington; and by two step-sisters, Tammy Coleman of Washington, and Wanda Morrison of Ravenden, Arkansas.

Visitation will be held at Mathis Funeral Home in Dexter on Friday, March 14, 2025, from 11:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. Funeral services will then be conducted in the Mathis Funeral Home Chapel on Friday, March 14, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. Interment will follow in the Missouri State Veterans Cemetery in Bloomfield.

Mathis Funeral Home in Dexter is assisting with arrangements.