Retta Joanne Betts

Memorial Service for Retta Betts will be held 10:00 a.m., Friday, October 9, 2020 at Walker Funeral Home, 410 Medical Arts Court, Gillette.  Her private interment will be at Black Hills National Cemetery with immediate family reuniting her with her beloved husband Edward. In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to Retta’s favorite charity organization, Inyan Kara Shrine Club, 133 Cedar St., Newcastle, WY  82701. Retta Jo Betts, 84, of Gillette passed away peacefully on October 2, 2020 with family by her side. Retta was born on August 22, 1936 in Iola, Kansas to Lloyd and Emmaretta Heath. She graduated from Russell High School in Russell, Kansas.   She married Edward Marion Betts on November 26, 1956 in Dorrance Kansas and enjoyed 57 years of marriage.  They welcomed two children; son Martin and daughter Alyson.  Retta and her family moved to El Dorado Kansas where she worked at a motel, jewelry store and the local library. They settled in Gillette Wyoming in 1977 where she worked at George Amos Memorial Library and the local dress shop.  She and her husband Ed were proud business owners of Shine-A-Blind and Retta’s Home Cleaning Services. After retirement she enjoyed spending time with her family and grandson, Kerry Todd Zimmerschied.  She loved having coffee most mornings with her “gang” of friends, playing cards, and walking.  Retta appreciated and studied fine art and was an amazing, talented self-taught artist and painter.  She treated everyone she met in life with compassion, acceptance, and generosity, because those things are what encapsulated who she was and how she lived her life. She is preceded in death by her parents, Husband Edward, Brothers Mick Heath, Don Heath, Rex Heath, Eileen (Heath) Schmidt, Naida (Heath) Yost. She is survived by Son Martin (Nancy) Betts of St. Joseph, Minnesota; Daughter Alyson (Kelly) Zimmerschied and Grandson Kerry of Moorcroft, Wyoming; Sister Patricia Dinkel, Salina Kansas. Memorials and condolences may also be sent in care of Walker Funeral Home 410 Medical Arts Court, Gillette, WY 82716. Condolences may also be expressed at www.walkerfuneralgillette.com