Betty Booker was born on June 5, 1930. She was a 15-year-old junior at Texas High School at the time of her death. She was raised in the church and, like her friend Paul Martin, was a member of Beech Street Baptist Church. She was also a member of the Delta Beta Sigma sorority. She was one of four officers in her high school band, and played the Bundy E-flat alto saxophone second in Jerry Atkins' orchestra, The Rythmaires, who played at proms and other events. In 1937, several years after the death of her father, her mother, Bessie, married her stepfather, Carl Brown, an employee of the Gifford-Hill Company. Betty and Paul Martin had been friends since they went to kindergarten together on the Arkansas side until she moved to 3105 Anthony Drive on the Texas side.