Betty Chasek

It wouldn’t be possible to condense 100 fully lived years into a few paragraphs. However beyond what is shared here, in Betty’s 100 years lived it can be summed up by saying she had a strong and beloved faith in the Lord, a deep love for her family, and moved through the world with grit and determination.

Betty Maude Brownlow Chasek was born March 31, 1925 to Frank Brownlow and Myrtle Taggart Brownlow at the home of her Aunt Fans in Rushville Nebraska. Betty was the fourth of eleven children, at the time of her death three siblings still remain.

Betty’s family settled on what is now Beaver Wall, and Betty spent her early years living in the same yard as her grandparents and uncles families. This land remained in Betty’s possession at the time of her death. Betty attended North Star school until the 4th grade at which time her Aunt Tressie decided to move to Illinois and Betty’s father rented the farm and moved his family one mile south which placed them in a new school district. Betty then attended Craven Creek School until she completed her 8th grade year. Betty had numerous stories about life on Beaver Wall and the antics that took place on their 4 mile walk to school and back every day, Betty would often tell of canyons to be crossed and younger siblings that would need carried. Betty had many stories about life in a small country school and the baseball games that took place that found her on the pitching mound as she had a “very good arm”, friends such as Vel Jean Boomer and Dean Carpenter were often mentioned in her stories. Betty began her High School career in Rushville Nebraska boarding with her Aunt. Her father visited not long after she began and asked her how she liked it and she replied “I’d just like to go home”, and she did just that.

Betty met the love of her life at a dance held at South Beaver Valley School, to her chagrin Jack Chasek showed up to court her in a grain truck as the car was already being used by the Twins. Obviously the grain truck was not a deterrent in their relationship as Betty and Jack were married July 12, 1941. Four months after they married Pearl Harbor was bombed and the United States headed into WWII, during this period rationing was common, Betty recalled sugar being the hardest to get and the rubber shortage caused tires to be very thin stating “you had a flat to fix every time you went to town”. When Betty’s grandparents retired they offered their place to Jack and Betty as none of their children were interested in owning it. Betty stated “we had to scrape pretty hard to come up with the money, but it was worth it in the end.” Their place became the backdrop for so many memories of adventure and fun for their children and grandchildren.

Betty and Jack were blessed with five children: Judy, Marvin, Dennis, Roger and Rodney. Betty loved her children and had many memories to share of their early years growing up some quite funny others made you realize she was gentle yet stern in her child rearing. Jack and Betty had to say good-bye much too early to Dennis at 25 years of age and Roger at 3 days old. Betty often said that it took her a year to think of anything else after Dennis passed; her strong faith pulled her through.

Betty was a hard worker, especially during the early years when it took both her and Jack working together to make ends meet, it wasn’t uncommon to see her scooping grain and doing general farm chores while raising children. One of her favorite stories was the gathering of the milk cows, she would describe how she would set Judy on the floor of the house, run out and saddle her horse and place a quart jar of cream in each saddle bag, then she would run back in and check on Judy and then mount her horse and ride for all she was worth to gather the milk cows, by the time she got back the cream had churned to butter saving her one step in the day. Betty loved to ride anytime she could and preferred bareback stating “I could ride like the wind bareback!” Betty loved to garden and in the early years it was a form of survival but in later years it was a much enjoyed hobby. Her favorite activity was to harvest wild fruit and choke cherry pies were always a special treat for her family.

Jack was Betty’s number one love but second to that was her family and the grandchildren that came with them and she rejoiced in every great and great great grandchild that was welcomed into the family; she also stated they were all her biggest blessings. When listening to her children and grandkids talk about the “home place” you can tell that many fun adventures were had there along with very good food, although at times they will smile and recall that every once in awhile there were strong reprimands for antics Betty didn’t deem necessary, but what they mostly recall is the love they always felt, and the clicking noise Grandmas flip flops made when she walked around the house. Betty would never turn anyone away from her table and no matter who you were you were always welcome at her table.

Betty is preceded in death by her husband Jack, sons Dennis and Roger, daughter in law Nona Chasek, her parents, grandparents and siblings Zenola, Lil, Lois, Favette, Bud, Tom and John. The reunion in Heaven had to have been spectacular!

Betty is survived by daughter Judy (Ron) Blundell, Sons Marvin Chasek, Rodney (Wendy) Chasek, Daughter in law Sandi Hermansen, grandsons Ryan (Robyn) Blundell, Rick (Lisa) Blundell, Cory (Kati) Chasek, Randy Chasek, Jerry (Christine) Chasek, Lane (Regan) Chasek, Miles (Ru) Chasek, numerous great and great great grandkids.