Mrs. Betty VanDeren Whittington Meek, a true southern lady, died at 84 surrounded by her loved ones in her home on the banks of the Tallahatchie River in Greenwood, Mississippi.  Betty Van will be remembered for her kind and loving heart, creative talents and a deep and abiding love of animals.  A lifelong child of the Mississippi Delta, Betty Van had a deep sense of place and a profound connection to the people and landscapes of the Delta.

Betty Van was born and grew up in Tunica, Mississippi.  She attended Gulf Park College for Women before transferring to the University of Mississippi where she was a member of the Chi Omega sorority graduating in 1964 with a Bachelor of Arts in Art History and Education.  After college, she moved to New Orleans, Louisiana sharing an apartment with several of her sorority sisters and teaching art at a public school in the Garden District.  While in New Orleans, she met her future husband, Dr. Edwin Mcleod (Dick) Meek, Jr. at a Tulane University football game and fondly remembered him taking her for motorcycle rides around the city.  They married in 1967, and briefly moved to San Francisco, California before settling in Greenwood in 1973.

In Greenwood, Betty Van was a communicant of the Episcopal Church of the Nativity, the Garden Club and a founding member of the Leflore County Humane Society.  She was an avid bird watcher and became an accomplished bird photographer, traveling all over the Southeast to photograph birds and later delivering slide show presentations of her best work.   After her children were grown, Betty Van managed her family's rental properties and would keep a camera in her car so that she could stop and photograph scenes and people around town that caught her eye. Later she exhibited a collection of her local photographs in the Museum of the Mississippi Delta.

Betty Van Deren Meek was born March 28th, 1942 to Allen Kenneth Whittington and Betty Kirtley Whittington of Tunica, Mississippi.  She was predeceased by her husband and older brother, Allen Kenneth Whittington, Jr.  She is survived by two brothers, Richard Liddell Whittington and James Duvall Whittington, her three sons, Edwin Mcleod Meek III (Mcleod) and his wife Allison of Greenwood, Kenneth Whittington Meek (Whit) and his wife Marie of Sedona, Arizona, and Matthew Mcwillie Meek and his wife Allison of Elizaville, New York. Betty Van leaves five grandchildren Ann Deren Sciara and her husband Sam of Southhaven, Mississippi, Wilkes McLeod Meek of Greenwood, and Stella Grey Meek, James Whittington Meek, and Cordelia Lorinne Meek of Elizaville, New York.

A family graveside service was held Monday, July 6, 2026, in Odd Fellows Cemetery, with Father Don Chancellor officiating.

In lieu of flowers the family requests memorials be made to the Leflore County Humane Society.