| Betty Barr Nelson died peacefully in Portland, Oregon of complications from a stroke on July 18, 2007. Betty was born to Pratt Barr and Grace Gibson Barr on September 9, 1926 in Barberton, Ohio. She was raised in Arnoldsburg, West Virginia and Akron, Ohio.
After graduating from high school at age 16, she went to work as a secretary in the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Factory in Akron where her father was employed. It is there that she met her husband John (Jack) Nelson. They married on her parents anniversary, November 8, 1950.
Six months after their wedding Jack and Betty left on the first of many adventures. Although Betty had not been west of Ohio, she and Jack accepted an assignment in Sumatra, Indonesia with Goodyear. They crossed the US by train, and the Pacific on the Pan Am Clipper, with a brief stop in Hawaii. Six months later they welcomed their first daughter, Sharman into the world.
Betty Jack and Sharman returned to the US in 1953, and Jack joined Union Carbide in San Diego. During their marriage they lived in Fullerton, California, Norwalk and Darien, Connecticut, Clarendon Hills, Illinois, and Andover Massachusetts. Jack preceded her in death while living in Darien on May 24, 1974.
Ever the explorer, Betty lived out the last 30 years of her life on the west coast. She resided in Bellevue, Washington and worked at Shoreline Apartments on Mercer Island. Sharman preceded her in death in Bellevue on April 6, 1996. Three years ago she moved to Rockway Beach, Oregon to be closer to her youngest son, John and his family.
Betty is survived by her daughter, Holly Nelson of Rancho Mirage, CA; her son, William (Barney) Nelson and daughter-in-law Cathy and their children, Brynn, Brooke and Luke of Beaverton, OR; her youngest son John C. Nelson, Jr. and daughter-in-law Kathi and their children JC, Michael and Kelsey of Rockway Beach, OR; her sister Gretchen Robertson of San Marcos, CA; and her brother, Burns Barr and his wife Delores of Texarkana, TX.
Betty liked to say that in her life she experienced many places, people and things. She told us that she had "ridden in the back of a limousine and the back of a truck with chickens." She instilled the desire to learn and the values of honesty, courage, and compassion in all of us. She will be remembered as a wonderful wife, mother and sister.
Betty will be laid to rest next to her husband Jack in the Gibson Cemetery in Arnoldsburg, West Virginia on July 23, 2007.
Stump Funeral Home of Arnoldsburg is in charge of arrangements.
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