Betty Jo Brauer Fairfax, Vermont Obituary

Betty Jo Brauer

BettyJo Brauer passed away on February 23rd, 2017, at the age of 92, at her home. Betty Jo spent her final days surrounded by loving family, friends, caregivers, and hospice volunteers who stopped by to sit quietly with her, share stories, hold her hand, and listen to soft classical music that played in the background. The day she died, a shaft of light from the sun setting over Lake Champlain came in through her window and fell softly across her forehead, and an hour before she died, a hospice group called the Noyana singers came to her room, where they softly sang her lullabies from around the world. Betty Jo was born in July of 1924, in Cowen, WV, the youngest of eight children. She was very proud of the strength her own mother displayed, raising her youngest four children on her own after her husband, the children’s father, deserted her during the Great Depression. Betty Jo learned from her mother’s resourcefulness, using folk remedies and making do as she raised her own four children by herself. Twice divorced by the age of 37, Betty Jo spent the majority of her adult life preferring to remain single. She loved to tell stories about growing up in the wild hills of West Virginia, where she loved climbing trees, swimming in the rivers, and picking berries and butternuts for her mother to bake into pies and cakes. Growing up, Betty learned to enjoy eating vegetables fresh from the garden, bird watching and a love of nature in general, as well as the necessity of hard work. Milking cows, taking care of chickens, chopping stove wood, and carrying water for the household, were all just part of the daily routine. Betty Jo was an exceptional student in high school where she was beloved and encouraged by her teachers. Before she left West Virginia she was awarded a four year scholarship to George Washington University, in Washington, D.C.. Unfortunately financial and family circumstances made it impossible for her to accept the honor. Instead she moved to Baltimore, MD, where she lived for a year in the Lutheran Hospice, at 59 Park Avenue, under the watchful eye of deaconess, Sister Zora. During the war years, Betty was especially proud of the defense plant work she did at Martin Marietta, wiring flight engineer switch panels. Betty Jo always held herself and her work to the highest standards, which sometimes led to conflicts in work settings if she encountered a culture of complacency. When low standards originated with the boss, Betty Jo would usually clash before just moving on. She was smart and capable and had no trouble finding another position. She was not ashamed to tell you that she had held 32 different jobs over a ten year period, usually more than one at a time. She was finally able to settle into what became her career as a ‘cold type’ phototypographer. She started at what was then known as Port City Press, a mid-sized printing firm just outside of Baltimore at age 45, and retired (for the first time) at 62 to help her eldest daughter, Deb, raise her two children. Betty’s skill level and work ethic led her employers to persuade her to come back more than once. She didn’t finally, completely retire until the age of 83. Typesetting can be anything from hand assembling cold type for Letterpress production of business cards to operating a Linotype to make hot type galleys for books; Betty’s work as a phototypographer involved learning and using sophisticated sets of codes to compose intricate mathematical tables and formulae for engineering manuals, skills and knowledge most typesetters don’t possess. Betty loved the intricacy of her work and took pride in being the fastest, most capable phototypographer of technical matter at her company. When she wasn’t working, Betty Jo loved writing, birding, and most of all being with her family. She raised 4 children mostly single-handedly and passed along her joy of learning and unimpeachable integrity to all of them. She similarly inspired her grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and many other people she encountered along the way, including a few members of the staff at Cathedral Square Assisted Living in Burlington, VT where she lived out her final two years. Among the experiences Betty recalled with the most joy were the several cross-country driving and camping trips she took with her children, and later her grandchildren, to see different parts of the US. Another were the discoveries she made about her Cherokee ancestry through genealogy research she pursued during her 70s. She also spent many hours reading about politics and the world and was an avid supporter of Bernie Sanders, even before moving to VT. When she lived in PA with her daughter Deb, they loved sitting outside quietly, watching the birds that were attracted to the feeders placed around their yard. Betty Jo also took great pride in her children’s accomplishments, traveling distances to attend ceremonies and able to recite extensive details about technical specifics of her children’s work. One of her children completed a doctoral dissertation just over a week before Betty Jo died, and Betty Jo made a point of reading enough of it to be able to comment on it with pride. Betty was herself a wonderful writer and continued to write while at Cathedral Square where she was a favorite member of the writing club. She was excited and proud that her stories were published in the Burlington Free Press (local paper), and to have recorded an interview as part of the public radio Story Corps project. Perhaps Betty Jo’s only major regret was being predeceased by her eldest daughter, Debra Brauer, and her grandson Bobby Mills. She lived a life filled with struggle, hurt, and adversity. Appalachian poverty left her essentially orphaned at the age of 14, and she became estranged from most of her West Virginia relations as an adult, but she found great comfort in the large loving family, some biological and some ‘adopted,’ that she built during her life. Betty Jo is survived by three children, Bob Mills (Ginny), Dot Brauer (Anita Long), and John Brauer (Rita), the two granddaughters she helped raise, Jennifer Landis (and her three children, Hunter, Brennan, and Caitlyn), and Rachel Cicioni (and husband Neil and their two children Kathryn and Maria), as well as step-grandchildren Brenda Harbold (Steve) and their two children Heather Kolbe (Kyle) and Douglas Harbold, Sr, and his son Douglas, Jr; Tracy Klippert (Jeffery, Sr) and their two children Kelsie and Jeffery, Jr; Brian Weit (Ann) and their three children Daniell, Andrew, and Sidney; and Wendy Lynn (Bobby) and their four children Angela, Bobby, Jr, Amber and Terri. Along with these family members by blood and marriage, Betty’s style of loving fiercely and completely led some extended family members to consider her a favorite relative, and many people to consider her a favorite friend, or even as their adopted ‘mom,’ or ‘gram,’ (you know who you are: Carol, Amanda, Stacey, Nan, Sandy, Rhonda, Kim, Carol, Julie, Cathy, and Traci). Betty was still affecting people around her in this way during her final weeks, and other people who might add their names to this list are undoubtedly missing. Betty Jo’s family is especially grateful that their mom/gram got to spend her final years in a place where she felt safe, comfortable, respected, and loved, where she received wonderful care, and made new friends among her fellow residents and caregivers, right up to her final months of life. Betty Jo’s cremation was handled with care and respect by A.W. Rich Funeral Services in Essex Junction, Vermont. In place of a funeral, there will be two celebrations of Betty Jo’s life. The first will take place in Glenrock, PA on Memorial Day weekend. The second is being planned for a day around the first week in July at 3 Cathedral Square in Burlington, VT. If you would like to know more about either of these events, please use Betty’s Caring Bridge website to contact Betty’s family. More details will be posted there as they are available. Make donations in lieu of flowers to: Cathedral Square Assisted Living/ in Memory of Betty Jo Brauer Send to: Cathedral Square Corporation, 412 Farrell Street, Suite 100, So. Burlington, VT 05403 or to: National Audubon Society at: https://action.audubon.org/donate/now or to: the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation (to fund medical research) in honor of Betty’s daughter Debra Brauer, who died at 56 of pulmonary fibrosis. Donations can be made by mail to: Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation, 230 East Ohio Street, Suite 500, Chicago, Illinois 60611. Donations can also be made online at: https://secure.pulmonaryfibrosis.org/checkout/donation?eid=115886
July 6, 1924 - February 23, 201707/06/192402/23/2017
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BettyJo Brauer passed away on February 23rd, 2017, at the age of 92, at her home. Betty Jo spent her final days surrounded by loving family, friends, caregivers, and hospice volunteers who stopped by to sit quietly with her, share stories, hold her hand, and listen to soft classical music that played in the background. The day she died, a shaft of light from the sun setting over Lake Champlain came in through her window and fell softly across her forehead, and an hour before she died, a hospice group called the Noyana singers came to her room, where they softly sang her lullabies from around the world. Betty Jo was born in July of 1924, in Cowen, WV, the youngest of eight children. She was very proud of the strength her own mother displayed, raising her youngest four children on her own after her husband, the children’s father, deserted her during the Great Depression. Betty Jo learned from her mother’s resourcefulness, using folk remedies and making do as she raised her own four children by herself. Twice divorced by the age of 37, Betty Jo spent the majority of her adult life preferring to remain single. She loved to tell stories about growing up in the wild hills of West Virginia, where she loved climbing trees, swimming in the rivers, and picking berries and butternuts for her mother to bake into pies and cakes. Growing up, Betty learned to enjoy eating vegetables fresh from the garden, bird watching and a love of nature in general, as well as the necessity of hard work. Milking cows, taking care of chickens, chopping stove wood, and carrying water for the household, were all just part of the daily routine. Betty Jo was an exceptional student in high school where she was beloved and encouraged by her teachers. Before she left West Virginia she was awarded a four year scholarship to George Washington University, in Washington, D.C.. Unfortunately financial and family circumstances made it impossible for her to accept the honor. Instead she moved to Baltimore, MD, where she lived for a year in the Lutheran Hospice, at 59 Park Avenue, under the watchful eye of deaconess, Sister Zora. During the war years, Betty was especially proud of the defense plant work she did at Martin Marietta, wiring flight engineer switch panels. Betty Jo always held herself and her work to the highest standards, which sometimes led to conflicts in work settings if she encountered a culture of complacency. When low standards originated with the boss, Betty Jo would usually clash before just moving on. She was smart and capable and had no trouble finding another position. She was not ashamed to tell you that she had held 32 different jobs over a ten year period, usually more than one at a time. She was finally able to settle into what became her career as a ‘cold type’ phototypographer. She started at what was then known as Port City Press, a mid-sized printing firm just outside of Baltimore at age 45, and retired (for the first time) at 62 to help her eldest daughter, Deb, raise her two children. Betty’s skill level and work ethic led her employers to persuade her to come back more than once. She didn’t finally, completely retire until the age of 83. Typesetting can be anything from hand assembling cold type for Letterpress production of business cards to operating a Linotype to make hot type galleys for books; Betty’s work as a phototypographer involved learning and using sophisticated sets of codes to compose intricate mathematical tables and formulae for engineering manuals, skills and knowledge most typesetters don’t possess. Betty loved the intricacy of her work and took pride in being the fastest, most capable phototypographer of technical matter at her company. When she wasn’t working, Betty Jo loved writing, birding, and most of all being with her family. She raised 4 children mostly single-handedly and passed along her joy of learning and unimpeachable integrity to all of them. She similarly inspired her grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and many other people she encountered along the way, including a few members of the staff at Cathedral Square Assisted Living in Burlington, VT where she lived out her final two years. Among the experiences Betty recalled with the most joy were the several cross-country driving and camping trips she took with her children, and later her grandchildren, to see different parts of the US. Another were the discoveries she made about her Cherokee ancestry through genealogy research she pursued during her 70s. She also spent many hours reading about politics and the world and was an avid supporter of Bernie Sanders, even before moving to VT. When she lived in PA with her daughter Deb, they loved sitting outside quietly, watching the birds that were attracted to the feeders placed around their yard. Betty Jo also took great pride in her children’s accomplishments, traveling distances to attend ceremonies and able to recite extensive details about technical specifics of her children’s work. One of her children completed a doctoral dissertation just over a week before Betty Jo died, and Betty Jo made a point of reading enough of it to be able to comment on it with pride. Betty was herself a wonderful writer and continued to write while at Cathedral Square where she was a favorite member of the writing club. She was excited and proud that her stories were published in the Burlington Free Press (local paper), and to have recorded an interview as part of the public radio Story Corps project. Perhaps Betty Jo’s only major regret was being predeceased by her eldest daughter, Debra Brauer, and her grandson Bobby Mills. She lived a life filled with struggle, hurt, and adversity. Appalachian poverty left her essentially orphaned at the age of 14, and she became estranged from most of her West Virginia relations as an adult, but she found great comfort in the large loving family, some biological and some ‘adopted,’ that she built during her life. Betty Jo is survived by three children, Bob Mills (Ginny), Dot Brauer (Anita Long), and John Brauer (Rita), the two granddaughters she helped raise, Jennifer Landis (and her three children, Hunter, Brennan, and Caitlyn), and Rachel Cicioni (and husband Neil and their two children Kathryn and Maria), as well as step-grandchildren Brenda Harbold (Steve) and their two children Heather Kolbe (Kyle) and Douglas Harbold, Sr, and his son Douglas, Jr; Tracy Klippert (Jeffery, Sr) and their two children Kelsie and Jeffery, Jr; Brian Weit (Ann) and their three children Daniell, Andrew, and Sidney; and Wendy Lynn (Bobby) and their four children Angela, Bobby, Jr, Amber and Terri. Along with these family members by blood and marriage, Betty’s style of loving fiercely and completely led some extended family members to consider her a favorite relative, and many people to consider her a favorite friend, or even as their adopted ‘mom,’ or ‘gram,’ (you know who you are: Carol, Amanda, Stacey, Nan, Sandy, Rhonda, Kim, Carol, Julie, Cathy, and Traci). Betty was still affecting people around her in this way during her final weeks, and other people who might add their names to this list are undoubtedly missing. Betty Jo’s family is especially grateful that their mom/gram got to spend her final years in a place where she felt safe, comfortable, respected, and loved, where she received wonderful care, and made new friends among her fellow residents and caregivers, right up to her final months of life. Betty Jo’s cremation was handled with care and respect by A.W. Rich Funeral Services in Essex Junction, Vermont. In place of a funeral, there will be two celebrations of Betty Jo’s life. The first will take place in Glenrock, PA on Memorial Day weekend. The second is being planned for a day around the first week in July at 3 Cathedral Square in Burlington, VT. If you would like to know more about either of these events, please use Betty’s Caring Bridge website to contact Betty’s family. More details will be posted there as they are available. Make donations in lieu of flowers to: Cathedral Square Assisted Living/ in Memory of Betty Jo Brauer Send to: Cathedral Square Corporation, 412 Farrell Street, Suite 100, So. Burlington, VT 05403 or to: National Audubon Society at: https://action.audubon.org/donate/now or to: the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation (to fund medical research) in honor of Betty’s daughter Debra Brauer, who died at 56 of pulmonary fibrosis. Donations can be made by mail to: Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation, 230 East Ohio Street, Suite 500, Chicago, Illinois 60611. Donations can also be made online at: https://secure.pulmonaryfibrosis.org/checkout/donation?eid=115886

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