Betty Ruth Nelson

August 18th, 1921 – October 25th, 2021

Betty Ruth Sternitzke was born on August 18, 1921 in Fort Dodge, Iowa. She attended schools in Fort Dodge, graduating from high school in 1939. In junior college, Betty took courses in English, Math and Business while working part-time at “The Boston Store” and later at “Woolworth’s”. Betty excelled in typing, shorthand and business machines. Her first full-time position was a private secretary to the General Manager of Wasem Plaster Company, where she later became Office Manager.

On August 11,1943, Betty married Roger Nelson and they started their family. They had two daughters, Carole and Marilyn and a son Don. Betty returned to work in 1951 as full-time secretary at First Presbyterian Church in Fort Dodge. In 1953, the family moved to California, eventually settling in Whittier, where another daughter, Joanne, was born.

In 1961 Betty began employment in the business office of Whittier Hospital. The hospital underwent a number of expansions from a small 49 bed facility to a 179 bed medical center. Betty took a number of management course in hospital administration. In 1974 she was promoted to assistant administrator, where she worked until her retirement in 1983. She then worked part-time for two years with the Ever Health Foundation in Whittier.

In retirement, Roger and Betty did extensive traveling. They enjoyed seven cruises, one of which took them to the Holy Land. They drove their RV across the western United States and part of Canada. Roger passed away on January 24th, 2005, and in September 2007, Betty moved to University Village.

Since 1988 Betty suffered impaired vision as a result of macular degeneration. Always an avid reader, she became a member of Braille’s Talking Book Library and listened to and average of two to three books per week.

Crocheting was a hobby she enjoyed for many years, making afghans, bedspreads, new baby outfits, vests and hats. In recent years, when she no longer was able to read and follow instructions, Betty crocheted nylon net scrubbies to give to family and friends. To many she was known as “The Scrubbie Lady”

Betty has been the self-proclaimed family historian. She has a collection of family histories and in the summer of 2014 had a book published about her husband’s family.

Betty was a lifelong member of the Luther Church. She was baptized, confirmed, and married at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Fort Dodge, Iowa. In 2001 Roger and Betty joined Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Thousand Oaks, California. She was preceded to death by her husband. She is survived by four children, three grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.