Rebekah Jan Couts

Rebekah Jan Haltom Couts (Becky), age 79, passed away Friday, April 12, 2024 at Alive Hospice in Nashville. A Memorial Service will be conducted at 11am Saturday, April 27, 2024 at Parkway Baptist Church, 505 Cunniff Pkwy., Goodlettsville, TN 37072 with Rev. Ken Castleberry and Rev. Matt Megginson officiating. Graveside Memorial Services will be conducted at 3pm Saturday, April 27th at the Elmwood Cemetery, 1029 Richard Street, Springfield, TN 37172. The family will have a memorial gathering of friends from 9-11am Saturday, April 27th at Parkway Baptist Church. Becky was born July 11, 1944, in Altus, OK, to the late William Earl Haltom and the late Zilpha Ruth Miller Haltom. She grew up as a MK (missionary kid), trusting Christ as a child. Her parents served with the Foreign Mission Board (now IMB) in Hawaii and the Bahamas. Becky graduated with a BS in Nursing from Oklahoma Baptist University (May 1966) and attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary where she met a gentleman named Bobby Murphey Couts. Bob and Becky were married December 28, 1968, and following seminary Bob pastored the 8th Street Baptist Chapel in Massillon, Ohio, for 2 ½ years. They were appointed as IMB evangelists and church planters in July 1974 and served for 35 years among the Goun and Weme peoples of Benin, West Africa (considered the birthplace of voodoo worship). At their retirement in August 2009, Bob and Becky settled in Whites Creek, TN, near Nashville, keeping in touch with Benin pastors and praising God for their faithful evangelism and church planting. They had the joy of returning to Benin in November 2013 with a medical/dental team from Parkway Baptist Church for 2 weeks of village clinics among the Weme churches. In addition to her parents, Mrs. Couts is preceded in death by her husband, Bobby Murphrey Couts; and 2 brothers, Jon David Haltom and Samuel Tsukasa Haltom. Becky is survived by her sons, Joshua John (Susie) Couts, and Rocco Daniel Dominic (Dotou) Couts; 6 grandchildren, Danielle, Eden, Murphey, Jack, Anna Jane, and Dominic; sister, Sarah Leialoha (Ronald) Hollifield; and sisters-in-law, Linda Haltom of Oklahoma and Linda Haltom of Colorado. In lieu of flowers, the family request that memorial donations be made to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering through Parkway Baptist Church. Austin & Bell Funeral Home in Springfield is in charge of these arrangements. AUSTIN & BELL FUNERAL HOME- 509 WALNUT STREET, SPRINGFIELD, TN (615) 384-1000

Rebekah Jan Couts

July 11, 1944 - April 12, 2024