Betty Beese

Ione Elizabeth “Betty” Beese passed away at Chelsea Retirement Community on Sunday, August 14th. She was born to Charles W. Beese and Ione E. Johnstone Beese on February 15, 1925 at State College, Pennsylvania where her father was an industrial engineering professor. The family moved to Lafayette, Indiana in 1937 when he became a dean at Purdue University.

Betty received a BS from Purdue in 1947 and an MS in Physical Education from Wellesley College in 1950. After a year teaching at Washington University, she began teaching as an assistant professor of physical education at Albion College in 1951. Besides teaching physical education classes, she coached forty-six athletic seasons, twenty-one in synchronized swimming, seventeen in archery, four in tennis, three in volleyball and was Albion’s first softball coach in 1977. Her 1954 women’s tennis team won the MIAA Championship. She retired as a professor in 1985 and Albion College inducted her into their Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993.

Betty dedicated her life to teaching and community service. She was a founding member of the Albion Area Ambulance Service, serving as a board member, attendant, dispatcher, driver and instructor. In 1995, the Michigan Legislature issued Betty a special tribute recognizing 50 years of service to the American Red Cross. During that time, she trained 376 Red Cross instructors, and certified 3,273 people in Water Safety and 4,186 people in First Aid. She once saved an Albion College professor’s life by performing CPR in the men’s locker room.

In 1978, Dr. Miriam S. Daly learned that in order to take her Girl Scout troop on a week-long Muskegon River canoeing trip with her husband’s Boy Scout Troop, they would have to have a Red Cross-certified Water Safety Instructor along. Betty volunteered to fill the roll and made numerous trips with Albion scout groups. The Daly’s informally adopted her as a family member.

During a backpacking trip to Isle Royale National Park, Dr. Harold Daly noticed that Betty had difficulty keeping up with the group despite her active lifestyle as a physical education professor. Various specialists diagnosed neurological issues which progressively inhibited her ability to walk.

Despite her mobility challenges, Betty continued to teach swimming and water aerobics classes at Albion College after her retirement, maintained an extensive garden around her home on the Kalamazoo River, engaged in numerous volunteer activities and traveled the world. She generously shared her plants and her passion for gardening.

Moving to Chelsea Retirement Community in 2014, she acted as an unofficial welcoming committee for new residents and maintained a large number of potted plants in her room and around the building.

Betty will be buried in a private ceremony at Riverside Cemetery in Albion. Memorial services will be held in Chelsea and Albion. The memorial service in Chelsea will occur at Towsley Village at Chelsea Retirement Community on Monday, August 22nd at 2 pm. The Albion memorial service will be held in Wesley Chapel at the Albion First United Methodist Church on Sunday, September 4th at 2 pm. Refreshments to follow. You may make memorial contributions to the Betty Beese Scholarship Fund at Albion College, 611 East Porter Street, Albion, MI 49224

To leave online messages of condolence, please visit www.kevintiddfuneralhome.com