Betty Jane Monsees

Betty was born at Ft. Riley, Kansas into a military family. Her father, John Stewart, was in the US Army and her mother, Bertha, was an army wife, homemaker, seamstress, and raised five children during their fifty year marriage. (Betty was the middle child.)

When Betty was in high school, they lived in Boston, Mass. There she sang in the school chorus and the church choir. She also directed a children’s choir at her church. She graduated in 1948 and entered the Cadet Nurse Corps that was established by the U.S. government during WWII. Her tuition, housing, books, and uniforms were all paid for, and she received a monthly stipend.

While in nursing school, she was asked to chair a committee to organize USO dances near the naval hospital. This was how she met Edward Ogrodnik, who was the navy committee to organize USO dances near the naval hospital. They worked together to plan the dances and to “bus” the nursing students to the dances. It was fun and they all looked forward to the activities. One day, Ed called and asked her to attend the Esplanade Concert on the Charles River featuring the Boston Symphony Orchestra. That was the beginning of a year long courtship during which time she graduated from nursing school and received her RN. She was offered the job as a Nursing Arts Instructor at the hospital school.

They were married March 31, 1951 in Arlington, Mass, after Ed was mustered out of the Navy. At the time, her parents were living in a large house that had an empty three bedroom upstairs apartment, which became their first home.

During their seven years at that house, they had four children. Her parents were thrilled to have the grandchildren just upstairs and which enabled Betty to work full time at Symes Arlington Hospital while Ed attended Tufts University on the GI Bill and majored in Bio Chemistry. Ed went on to receive a Master’s degree at Boston University and was offered a job in a Research Lab at M.I.T. which was his life long dream.

But fate took a cruel turn when Ed was diagnosed with a rare neurological disease for which there was no cure. Betty’s nursing skills enabled her to take care of Ed, and some of her former nursing school classmates also helped out. After a year, Ed passed away on August 12, 1968. Even though she had five children ranging from six years to 17 years, she was financially stable due to fortunate circumstances and a lot of faith and Divine help.

Once the kids were on their own, she developed an interest in politics, “to a certain degree,” she says, and became president of the Women’s Republican Club in Burlington, Mass. She met the President of the Men’s Republican Party of Monmouth County and as Betty said, “…their friendship blossomed.” He was a retired Air Force Lt. Colonel, and on May 5th, 1985, Betty became Mrs. Fred Monsees. They were tired of the ice and snow and cold New England winters and pulled up stakes and moved down to Palm Coast, Florida.

They were members of a strong Volunteer Mission group in their church (United Methodist Church of Palm Coast) that went to Homestead, Florida after hurricane Andrew devastated that area in 1992. They were assigned one of the many houses that was demolished and rebuilt it from the foundation up to the roof top with building materials and supplies delivered to the site by the United Mission Volunteers Organization.

Again, as fate would have it, Fred was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1995, but they had a few productive years together. During that time, she worked for Flagler Habitat for Humanity and helped build the first house constructed entirely by women. There were 20 women and it took a lot of long steady work and fortitude, but they did it and were proud and happy of their accomplishment! When the Parkinson’s disease reared its ugly head, Betty’s training as a nurse enabled her to cope with the illness and render all the care and TLC that was required of her in their home. Fred died in 2005.

Being alone and feeling sorry for herself was NOT on Betty’s agenda. She knew it was time to have some well deserved fun, so she joined a happy group call the Red Hat Flashers which was a chapter of the National Red Hat Association. It was there that she met some wonderful ladies, learned about their lives, and shared dinners and luncheons with them in the finest restaurants that Palm Coast had to offer. They were a caring group of ladies who were there for her when she needed them. At that time, Bishop’s Glen also had a chapter of the Red Hat Association, and she met some of the ladies that lived there and learned about Bishop’s Glen.

She and Marge Highsmith became quite close while swimming at Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club in Palm Coast and attending the Aquatic classes together. When Marge and her husband moved to Bishop’s Glen, Betty’s interest was aroused, and Bea and Erich Gussow also urged her to move there. Betty moved to Bishop’s Glen and was very active in everything that “comes down the pike.” She was the building representative for Building One, a soprano in the choir, and attended Stretch and Flex and Bible class. She could be seen at every Wine and Cheese gathering, the Friday night entertainment, Tuesday night movie, Balance classes, Brain Fitness classes, and she was an avid bridge player and shuffleboard player, and was a member of the Bishops Glen Retired Nurses Association and the Tomoka United Methodist Church. Betty is survived by her five children, Ellen Jean Ogrodnik, Carol Ann McFarland, Edward Thomas Ogrodnik Jr., Susan Elizabeth and her husband, Robert J. Ettinger, David Michael Ogrodnik; two grandsons, John and his wife Victoria Ettinger, Michael Ferguson; two granddaughters, Kelly Fitzgerald, Lindsay and her husband Gregg Morgan Jr.; great-granddaughter, Ava Morgan and many more loving relatives and amazing friends.

Betty will be remembered for her friendliness, caring, helpfulness, a marvelous sense of humor that brightens up the room whenever she would walk in. We are so blessed that she had been a part of our lives. In lieu of flowers donation in her memory may be made to Habitat for Humanity.