Betty Lou Curtis

CLARENCE ? Betty Lou Curtis, 76, of Mechanicsville, died Monday, Jan. 11, 2016, in Mechanicsville Specialty Care.

Funeral services will be at 10:30 a.m., Friday, Jan. 15, at the United Church of Crawfordsville with the Rev. Jason Collier officiating. Burial with military rites will be at Crawfordsville Cemetery. Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m., Thursday at Chapman Funeral Home in Clarence. Memorials may be directed to the United Church of Crawfordsville, Zion United Church of Christ, or the Crawfordsville First Responders.

Mrs. Curtis was born March 16, 1939, at the home of a relative in Sabetha, Kansas, the daughter of Jacob Aaron Lehman and Arena (Bartlett) Lehman. She married Larry Carroll Curtis of Crawfordsville.

She started first grade in a country school near Mercer, Kansas. Her family moved to Bosworth, Missouri, around 1948, where she grew up on a farm and later graduated from high school in 1957. After graduating from high school, she entered the Women?s Army Corps. She met her husband while serving in the Army, and the couple were married after she had completed her three years of duty. She received the Good Conduct Medal from the Army in 1977. She was an Army wife for 20 years and raised her children, sometimes alone while her husband was overseas in Korea and Vietnam. When her husband was serving out of the country, her home base was always Crawfordsville. They also lived in Chicago and Waukegan, Illinois; Alexandria, Virginia; and Satellite Beach, Florida. When her husband retired from the Army, the family moved back to Crawfordsville. She attended Southeastern Community College in Burlington and graduated with an A.A. degree in business. She worked many jobs during her lifetime. She was an office secretary, a cook, a nursing home aide, home cleaner, saleswoman, detasseler, and partner in her husband?s tavern, Sarge?s Tap, in New London. She was also a homemaker. A few years after her husband?s death, she moved to Lowden to be closer to family. She was a member of the Zion United Church of Christ and Women?s Fellowship, the American Legion Auxiliary, and was a life member of the AMVETS in Lowden and the VFW Auxiliary in New London. She attended many churches in her lifetime, where she enjoyed teaching Sunday school, singing in the choir, and helping with various church activities. She also enjoyed playing cards, bingo, sewing, volunteering for special events and occasions, baking and sharing tons of cookies at Christmastime with friends, family, and the elderly in the neighborhoods.

Surviving are three children, Deanna Licht and husband Ted of Lowden, Cynthia Helms and husband Don of Cedar Rapids, and Nathaniel Curtis of Mount Vernon, Washington, and his ex-wife Indira of Wylie, Texas; five grandchildren; and two great-grandsons.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Larry; one brother; one sister; three brothers-in-law; and one sister-in-law.