March 22, 1927 – October 13, 2016
Betty was born in Elko, Nevada, and graduated from Elko County High School in 1945. Due to her allergies, she spent many summers on a ranch outside of Elko, and absolutely loved Lamoille Canyon and the Ruby Mountains, where the family made frequent camping trips.
After high school, Betty worked for 2 years at the Nevada Bank of Commerce in Elko. In 1947, she was named Queen of the Elko County Fair and State Livestock Show. In 1948, she attended Westminster College in Salt Lake City, where she met her future husband, Charles Marksheffel. They were married in 1948, and Betty stayed at home for two years after the birth of each of her children, before returning to work and continuing her college education. In 1960, she completed a Bachelor’s Degree at Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado; and in 1967, completed a Master’s Degree at Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado.
Betty’s teaching career started in the fall of 1960, with a classroom full of 34 fourth graders, in Castle Rock Colorado. The entire family then made the long trip north to Kake, Alaska, where Betty taught 5th grade, then moving to Ketchikan, Alaska, where Betty taught girls physical education at Ketchikan High School. After 9 years of P.E., she switched to teaching business classes until her retirement in 1981.
Betty was a strong advocate for the development and funding of girls sports, and encouraged high school girls to participate in the Girl’s Athletic Association (GAA). Between 1965 and 1968, Betty served as treasurer, vice president, and president of the Ketchikan Education Association, and was involved with the Epsilon Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma between 1966 and 1981.
After retirement, she and her husband, Charles, settled in the foothills of Nipomo, California, where they planted lemon and avocado orchards on their 52 acres.
Betty and Charles eventually divorced in 1995. At this time, she moved to Boulder City, Nevada, where she volunteered at the local senior center, volunteered as a board member of the Boulder Dam Museum and Historical Society, and continued to pursue various forms of needlework. An excellent seamstress, she sewed many of her professional work clothes. Having learned hand quilting at an early age, Betty rekindled her stitching prowess by participating in the Santa Maria Valley Quilt Guild in California, The Boulder City Cut-Ups Quilt Guild in Boulder City, Nevada, and the Seaport Quilters Guild in Clarkston, Washington. Betty also enjoyed quilting cruises, visiting various ports in Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Singapore, and Ireland and Wales.
Her third and final trip north to Alaska was in 2006, when she moved everything she owned from Clarkston, Washington, to be closer to her children in Ketchikan.
Betty was preceded in death by her sister, Mary Lou Detweiler; father, Fay E. Detweiler; mother, Emma Wiggins Detweiler; brother, Fay A. Detweiler and former husband Charles C. Marksheffel.
Betty is survived by her son, Ed Marksheffel and daughter, Fredericka Marksheffel of Ketchikan, Alaska; granddaughter, Amy Balenzano; great granddaughter Athena, of Spokane, Washington; and grandson Caspian Marksheffel-Brand of Tukwila, Washington. Betty’s ashes will be placed in Elko, per her final wishes.