Portrait of Becky Couts. IMB Photo
Rebekah “Becky” Couts, an International Mission Board missionary emeritus who shared the gospel in West Africa, died April 12, 2024, in Nashville, Tennessee. She was 79.
Becky was born July 11, 1944, in Altus, Oklahoma, to the late Bill and Ruth Haltom. She graduated from Altus Senior High School; received the Bachelor of Science from Oklahoma Baptist University, Shawnee; and attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas.
Becky grew up as a missionary kid and came to saving faith in Christ at the age of 6. Her parents served as missionaries to Hawaii and the Bahamas. When Becky’s mother was seriously injured in a car accident, their family relocated back to Oklahoma for a time. That summer, Becky attended church camp and felt God calling her to be a foreign missionary. While seeking missionary appointment, she wrote, “To this day I have never been more sure of anything. I was 10 years old.”
After earning her degree in nursing, Becky worked as a staff nurse until she entered seminary in 1967 to prepare for medical missions. She met Bob Couts the very first day. They fell in love and were married on Dec. 28, 1968. During the summer of 1973, while at Ridgecrest (N.C.) Baptist Assembly, Becky felt God speaking to her again about foreign missions. Bob, too, sensed God’s call to go overseas.
In 1974, the International Mission Board appointed Bob and Becky missionaries to West Africa where they served in evangelism and church planting in Benin for 33 years.
Becky is preceded in death by Bob, her husband of 51 years.
She is survived by her sons, Joshua John Couts (Susie) and Rocco Daniel Dominic Couts (Dotou), and six grandchildren.
A memorial service was held April 27, at Parkway Baptist Church in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, with burial in Elmwood Cemetery, Springfield, Tennessee.
Donations in her memory may be made to the Lottie Moon Offering, IMB, 3806 Monument Avenue, Richmond, VA 23230, or online at Generosity Resource Center – IMB Generosity.
Read an obituary here.