Betty was born as the second youngest child of four children in Great Bend, KS, on March 9, 1939. She
graduated high school in Pratt, KS, in 1957 and was married the same weekend to
her true love, Sid Haworth. After the wedding reception and a short stay in
Wichita, KS, the young couple headed to Grand Prairie, TX, where they began
their life together. Betty got a job in a soda shop while Sid continued his
career in the US Navy. After a couple of years in Texas, the couple moved to Hawaii
following Sid’s career in the Navy. A year later, the couple settled in
California, where Sid finished his term in the US Navy and began his career at
the gas company.
Betty worked at Montgomery Ward in Oakland, CA while she
was pregnant with their first child, Craig. The couple eventually moved to
Fremont, CA where they had their second child, Karen. They stayed in California
for over 30 years and Betty began a career in babysitting. She had a fantastic
reputation for this job and many of the elementary school teachers used her as
their go-to for their children.
Betty, being the artistic person that she was also began a
toll painting business. There were many weekends spent at craft shows
throughout Northern California selling her beautiful artistic pieces. Betty
spent many days sanding down metal milk cans, wash boards, and other metal
objects to paint and sell. She had quite the following. Sid was also very
involved in the selling of his craft, driftwood carving. He carved seagulls,
cowboys and many other scenes from pieces of driftwood they collected on trips
to Patrick’s Point State Park in Northern California.
Once their youngest child was 16 years old, Betty began a
new career at Dean Witter Reynolds, first as a receptionist, then as a cashier.
This job was particularly interesting to her because she had a flair for financial
endeavors. She worked at Dean Witter for over 10 years.
Some years after Sid’s retirement, the couple moved to
Albuquerque, NM to be closer to some of their grandchildren. They were very
involved in raising their grandchildren and spent many weekends enjoying their
company. In 2017, her daughter, Karen and husband Hugh, moved to Colorado for
work while the two granddaughters, Shannon and Rachel, stayed with Grandma and
Grandpa (aka Betty and Sid) to finish up the college school year. Once the
grandkids completed the school year at the end of May 2018, they moved up to
Broomfield, CO.
Betty and Sid decided to make the move the following July 8,
2019. They moved in with Karen, Hugh, Shannon, and Rachel and were settling in
to their new life when Betty had a heart attack on July 25, 2019. She passed
away at her new home in Broomfield, CO surrounded by Sid, Craig and his wife Phyllis,
Karen and her husband Hugh, and her two granddaughters, Shannon and Rachel.
Life will never be the same without this wonderful woman, my mom Betty Haworth.
-Written by Karen Denham
