BETTE EVELYN KNIGHT CARDER
OBITUARY
Bette Evelyn Knight Carder passed away peacefully at the Sanctuary Hospice House in Tupelo Mississippi on August 12, 2026, surrounded by her family, six days shy of her 77th birthday. Bette was born August 18, 1949, in Houston, Mississippi, the daughter of Loree Lancaster & Raymond Wilburn Knight.
Bette graduated from Houston High School and went on to obtain her LPN degree from Itawamba Junior College in 1973 and began work in the ER at the Houston Hospital. Her nursing career began in earnest in 1978, when she obtained her AD from IJC. She went on to obtain her BS in Nursing from Mississippi University for Women in 1994 and followed in 2004 with her MSN-CFNP, also from MUW. Bette held many positions during her working career, including time as a Home Health Nurse, as the Director of Nursing of a Nursing Home, as a nurse in hospital Medical & Surgical wings, and lastly as Nurse Practitioner with the doctors at Tupelo Neurology, where she met her future husband Dow Carder as a patient. They were married on August 18, 2008, and Dow faithfully loved and cared for Bette from the day they married until her passing at Sanctuary Hospice House, Tupelo on August 12, 2026. Having been burdened with renal cell cancer since 2009, Dow was by her side through all her surgeries, the hospital stays, and finally, the nursing home and Hospice stays.
Bette was a faithful member of Calvary Baptist Church in Tupelo before and after she married, and where she was a member of the choir for several years before moving back to Houston in 2012, when her husband purchased Doss Electric of Maben, MS. They then became devoted members of First Baptist Church - Houston, where she sang in the choir, and later taught the “Mary and Martha” Sunday School Class until her health declined.
Bette is survived by her husband, Eugene Dow Carder, Jr, Houston, MS; a beloved aunt, Myra Faye Knight Cambell, Houlka, MS; a brother Dr. Steve Mooneyham (Tammy) of Greensboro, GA; a sister Sonya Rodgers (Randy) of Oxford, MS; a brother-in-law Keith Carder (Coleen) of Mountain Brook, AL and children; a sister-in law April Carder of Black Mountain, NC; a stepson Adam Carder(Nikki) of Marietta, GA, and children Jonah and Lula Carder; and several beloved nieces and nephews. “Aunt Bette” was the first phone call when anyone got sick, and she loved us all deeply. She was proceeded in death by her grandparents Doyle and Myrl Knight of Houlka, MS; her grandfather William Hayden Lancaster of Pontotoc, MS; her beloved “second grandfather” Cecil (Bud) Holley and grandmother Odell Holley of Houston, MS; her father Raymond Wilburn Knight; her mother Loree Knight Mooneyham Rice; her step-father J.W. Rice, her aunt Martha Knight Stroup; her great nephew Liam Mooneyham; her sister Beverly Kay Mooneyham and her mother-in-law Janis Carder Corley of Birmingham, AL.
The Family wants to give special thanks to those who have given care to Bette over the last few years: The entire staff at Sanctuary Hospice House, Tupelo; Bette’s caregivers Mertis White, Ms. Loretta, and Ms. Ann. Together, their round the clock care seven days a week enabled Bette to return home until the last two weeks of her life; Her doctors, Dr. Stephen Farmer, who successfully performed her first surgery in 2009; Dr Ryan Yates, her Oncologist, Oxford, MS; the surgical team of Dr. Stephen Behrman, Dr. Bashar Abdulkarim, and the staff at Baptist Hospital - East, Memphis, who, through five major surgeries from 2016 through 2024, gave Bette 10 more years with us; her friends and colleagues Dr. Edward Gore, Dr. Thomas Oakes, Dr. V. Patel, and Dr. Noel Garcia who worked with and cared for her many years; and above all, to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who Bette faithfully served and shared with so many others. Bette cared for others all her life and now Christ has welcomed her to her eternal home to care for her. She will be dearly missed by all who knew and loved her.
Services will be held Saturday, August 22, 2026, at the First Baptist Church, Houston, MS. Visitation is from 12:00 to 2:00PM, services to follow. Private burial will be held at Collum Cemetery, Houlka, Mississippi. In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made to St Judes Children’s Research Hospital, The American Cancer Society, First Baptist Church-Houston, or the charity of your choice.