Betty E. Perkins Upchurch Malz, 82, died on Feb. 4 after a period of declining health. She was a Christian best-selling author of 10 books and a well-known speaker.
In one of her most popular books, My Glimpse of Eternity, published in 1977, Malz wrote about how God literally raised her up from her death bed after she was clinically dead for 28 minutes. In this amazing and beloved true story, she tells of what she saw, felt and heard “on the other side of the dividing wall that we call death.”
Malz’s other best-sellers include Angels Watching Over Me and Prayers That Are Answered. She also wrote Making Your Husband Feel Loved, published by Charisma House.
She grew up in Indiana, but fell in love with Florida after living there in the late 1950s and ’60s. Malz moved back to the Florida coast and settled in Crystal Beach, Fla., in 1985.
She is survived by her husband, Carl Malz, former vice president of Trinity Bible College. The two were on staff at Christ Church of Palm Harbor, Fla., where her father was a pastor in the 1960s when the church was named Palm Harbor Assembly of God.
“God blessed me when I met Betty,” Delores Nichelson of Palm Harbor, Fla., wrote in Malz’s guest book at legacy.com. “She was an inspiration to me when I heard her talk and when I read her books, AND when I met her at the post office when she was in her convertible. I loved sharing her books and testimony with others who didn’t know her yet.”
Larry and Gloria Lundstrom, of Larry Lundstrom Ministries, wrote: “There was no one like her with spunk, love for people, love for God and her love to pray. She loved people and truly cared for them. … The last statement she spoke to [us] about a year ago when we were visiting Carl and Betty was, ‘Larry and Gloria, I want to spend the rest of my life winning souls.’ What a parting statement.”
Malz is also survived by her daughter April Upchurch, three brothers, three stepchildren, and many nieces, nephews, grandchildren and great-grand children.
