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Former bank director, 77, dies

St. Petersburg native Betty Rutland Bussey, member of many social clubs, was the first woman stockholder at the Lakewood Country Club.

ST. PETERSBURG - Betty Rutland Bussey, daughter of the late entrepreneur and banker Hubert Rutland, died Saturday (July 12, 2003) at home under hospice care. She was 77.

Mrs. Bussey was born in St. Petersburg and grew up in one of the city's grand homes, a showplace on the shores of Little Bayou.

After graduating from St. Petersburg High School, where she was chosen "Miss Sunshine" in 1944, Mrs. Bussey completed her early education at Ward Belmont School. She then enrolled at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa.

She made her debut into society locally in 1946 at the then-grand Soreno Hotel and was one of the Southern Belles presented at the Cotton Ball in 1948 at Chattanooga, Tenn.

In June 1948 she married Robert N. Bussey, who became a prominent St. Petersburg lawyer, businessman and banking figure. The marriage ended in divorce.

Mrs. Bussey was a director at the former Rutland Banks, started by her father, and a founding director of the St. Petersburg Bank & Trust and the Central Plaza Bank & Trust Co.

She was a member of the St. Petersburg Junior League, the St. Petersburg Museum of History, the Boley Angels, the Salty Sisters of the St. Petersburg Yacht Club and the St. Petersburg Debutante's Society, where she was a past president. She was the first woman stockholder at the Lakewood Country Club and was a board member of the Manatee Valley Drainage District. She was a member of First United Methodist Church.

Survivors include a daughter, Helen Sterin, of St. Petersburg; four sons, Hubert R. Bussey of Breakenridge, Texas, and Robert N. Bussey Jr., Stephen R. Bussey and Rutland W. Bussey, all of St. Petersburg; and seven grandchildren, Steven R. Bussey Jr., Edward D. Bussey, Betty G. Sterin, Christian C. Sterin, Nicholas J. Sterin, Kathryn C. Bussey and Shands R. Bussey. Arrangements are being handled by Anderson-McQueen Funeral Homes & Cremation Tribute Center-Ninth Street Chapel, St. Petersburg.

Visitation will be from 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday at Anderson-McQueen Funeral Home-Ninth Street Chapel, 2201 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. N, St. Petersburg.

Services will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at First United Methodist Church, 212 Third St. N, St. Petersburg.

Donations may be made to Hospice Foundation of the Florida Suncoast, 300 E Bay Drive, Largo, FL 33770.