Betty Conley
is honored with a Brick from Norm Conley
Betty's Eddy family relatives came to Plymouth Colony Mass. in 1630 on a ship called the 'Handmaiden'. Martha Elizabeth (Betty) Dixon Conley was born on a farm near Severy, Kansas. She was graduated from Severy High School in 1934. She completed Normal Training and taught in a one-room schoolhouse in Elk County Kansas. The school was called 'Hideout'. She married Otis George "Pete" Conley May 1, 1934 and they ran a hardware store in Climax Kansas during the depression and up until World War II. The business was bad and World War II brought a change in career for Pete and it brought their son Norm (class of 66'). They moved to Wichita Kansas in 1945 where Jim (class of 70') was born in 1947. Betty helped support the boys through college at Wichita State. Pete and Betty were honor parents at a WSU homecoming one year. Mom helped Norm and Jim with the English in their term papers. Her penmanship was excellent.
She always worked hard to help support her family. Her roast beef, carrots, and potatoes with brown gravy were legendary in her family. Betty had been a sales representative with the Avon Company for over thirty years, and held memberships in the Order of Eastern Star for over 50 years in Delia Croft Chapter 387 at Climax, Kansas. She was worthy Matron. She was also a charter member of Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ. She was active in the women's organizations at Pilgrim and served as a Deaconess for the church. She was a charter member of Caldwell Elementary School PTA. Betty was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Betty loved her extended family and always worried about them. Betty loved her grandchildren and cared for them when she could. Mom spent the last 16 years as a widow with her children and grandchildren as the most important thing in her life. Her first was Jim's Jason. He was the "light of her life." Norm's Sean and Jim's Christa followed. She was a good grandmother to them.
Betty was stern but did a good job of raising her boys. At 80, Mom's high blood pressure, Diabetes and Congestive Heart Failure got to her system and she passed away. Most people knew her as Betty. We knew her as Mom.
Submitted by Norm Conley
October 8, 2000 (for Betty Conley)
