Obituary - Betty Mulvaney

Betty Mulvaney passed away Saturday, March 14, at Aspen Gardens of natural causes.  

Helping others, working hard, developing lots of friendships and maintaining a sense of humor were the guidelines Betty Ann Simpson Mulvaney followed with great success over her lifetime of 91-plus years.

Betty was born in Deer Lodge on March 19, 1923, the daughter of Thomas Simpson and Ethel Boyle Simpson. Her father was a miner and farmer/rancher.

She grew up in a small log house in the Racetrack area, about 10 miles south of Deer Lodge. She attended a country school in the area through the fifth grade. Within walking distance was the neighboring Hanson family, and she was good friends with the five Hanson children - Mildred, Eleanor, Lars, Rose Clare and Minetta. The latter two, Rose Clare (Kallet) and Minetta (Wilson), became close, lifelong friends.  

Beginning in the sixth grade, Betty took the school bus into Deer Lodge to attend school and went on to graduate from Powell County High School in Deer Lodge in 1940.

She then moved to Helena to enroll in nurses training classes at the old St. John's Hospital in Helena, where she received her registered nurse degree from St, John's Hospital School of Nursing in September 1944. This was the era of World War II, and Betty joined the Army Nurse Corps in 1945 and was stationed in San Francisco.

Just prior to her scheduled departure overseas, World War II ended. Her rank was second lieutenant, and she received the American Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.

Betty married Bob Mulvaney, a World War II veteran who served on the European front, in 1947 in Helena.

Both attended Carroll College under the new GI Bill of Rights, and after the arrival of their first son, Tom, in July 1948, they moved to Carroll Village, where the Lundy Shopping Center is now located.  

Betty enrolled in the newly organized Department of Nursing Education program at Carroll. She was one of four graduate nurses that became the first class to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing Education at Carroll. The other three members of that first class went on to become lifelong friends of Betty's. They included Madeline Samson, Rosaleen Mullen and Sylvia Malencik.  

In 1953, Bob took a job at the Free Enterprise Health Mine near Boulder, and the family of four, which now included baby Bill, took up residence on 3rd Street in Boulder.  

Betty had great neighborhood friends, including Nora and Pup Schiavon, Ling Mark, Ollie (and Roy) Murray, the Johnson's across the street, and Marie and Art Aspengren. Among her other Boulder friends were Margaret Keating, Lee Simons, Babe Trettin, Jo Phelan and JoAnne McFarlane.

But the family's closest neighbors both in proximity - an 8-foot wide driveway was all that separated their houses on 3rd Street - and friendship was the Molitor family. Mom thought the world of Morris and Mary Molitor and their children, Kathy, Don and Mike.  

Betty worked for many years as a nurse and instructor at the Boulder River School, a state institution for the developmentally disabled. She served 15 years as in-service director of training. Her two sons both attended Boulder grade school and graduated from Jefferson County High School in Boulder.

In 1972, Betty moved to Helena following her divorce from Bob. She worked as an RN at St. Peter's Hospital until her retirement in 1985. She lived in a basement apartment at the Lois Beyer home on 9th Street in Helena for many happy years. Her neighborhood friends included Lois and Bill Beyer, Sally Hilander and Vera Black. She also cherished her many nursing friends, including Mary Mouat, Helen Amundson, Marion Sweet (Wright), Miriam Tournai, Terry Temple, Nancy Whetzel, Linda Swang, Jackie Lamphier. Linda (Pierce) Shinn, Lois Buchanan, Mary Clark, Judy Schweyen, Evonne Blackburn, Ruby McClure, Kathleen Hunthausen. Mary Patton and Jan Isola, to name just a few.  Betty's basement apartment was host to many festive get-togethers, most notably an annual Mardi Gras celebration.

During the days when Frontier Town was open, it was a tradition to celebrate Mother's Day there with the Mouat family, Mary and Marty, and their children, Chris, Amy and Josh.

Betty enjoyed travel, especially after her retirement, and socializing with her many friends over the years, including Mary Molitor, Mercedes Steigler, Montee Casteel, Lois Beyer and her son, Bill, Carol Sandin, Jan Schossow, Phyllis and Steve Radnich, Helen and Cleber Amundson, Boomer and JoAnne Priebe and many more.

She made trips to Hawaii twice, where she visited her childhood friend, Minetta Wilson and her daughter Linda and her family. She also visited New York City twice, where she visited another childhood friend, Rose Clair Kallet.

One of her lifetime highlights was a trip to Washington, D.C., for the dedication in 1997 of the "Women in Military Service for America" Memorial, honoring U.S. women veterans.  She attended this event with Helen Amundson, Sylvia Malencik and Rose Clair Kallet.

On May 8, 1999, Betty proudly walked the aisle to the podium at the Carroll College graduation ceremony, to receive a Golden Jubilarian award from President Matthew Quinn to commemorate her graduation from Carroll 50 years prior.  

Betty enjoyed walking in her later years.

A breast cancer survivor, she particularly enjoyed walking in the Race for the Cure event. Another favorite walking destination was Terry Dagenais' Convenient Store which was located next to First Security Bank, where she banked for over 30 years. She loved to visit and joke with Terry.

After her retirement from St. Peter's Hospital, Betty enjoyed her visits to the Lakeside home of her friends, Helen and Cleber Amundson (and children Margaret and Charlie), and neighbor friends, Joanne and Boomer Priebe. The Amundson home overlooking the lake provided a great vantage point for her bird-watching hobby. She was an avid birdwatcher and particularly enjoyed watching the eagles and some of the more unusual birds in the Helena and Lake Helena area.  

She particularly enjoyed the Christmas decorations during the holidays and the Fourth of July displays. Spending the Christmas season in Hingham with son Bill and Cathy and all their grandchildren was an annual highlight for many years. Opening presents and watching the grandchildren perform Christmas skits under Alexa's direction always provided joy and laughter.

Betty liked baseball, and was always excited when Rob Johnson had a good game for the Seattle Mariners.  Rob, now retired from Major League Baseball, is the son of cousin Eileen (Bennett) and Bob Johnson of Butte.

She moved to Eagles Manor in about 1996 and then to Aspen Garden Assisted Living Housing in 2009. She received excellent care at both facilities and expressed gratitude and respect for Bobbie Sue Caruthers and her staff at Eagles and to Aimee Shein and Sherri Maharg and their staff at Aspen Gardens, including nurse Kathy Brothers.

She kept her mind active in her later years by reading books obtained from Richard Van Nice's Book Store and doing crossword puzzles. She particularly enjoyed historical books, both fiction and nonfiction, and liked books by John Michener, Nicholas Sparks and Dorothy Macumber and an occasional Danielle Steele or Nora Roberts, but was not pleased with "all the bad language" in the latter two author's book.

She watched a few television shows and her favorites were the "Lawrence Welk Show," "Jeopardy," "Wheel of Fortune" and, most recently, "The Voice" and "American Idol."

A tradition in her last years was watching "60 Minutes" on Sunday night with her son, Tom. Recently, they watched the Roosevelt miniseries by Ken Burns, which brought back many memories to Betty.  

Betty was also very appreciative of the care she received from Dr. Connie O'Conner and from Dr. Heather McRee and the caring staff at Lewis & Clark Cooperative Health Center. When Betty entered the hospice program in July 2014, she received wonderful care from the staff of Frontier Hospice. She enjoyed many visits from her friends and relatives in the final months of her life.

Betty is preceded in death by her parents, Ethel Boyle Simpson and Thomas Simpson; her former husband, Robert J. Mulvaney; her aunts and uncles, Mae Keiley, Katy Bennett, Martha Bennett, Patrick Boyle and Johnny Boyle; her Keiley cousins, Rita Mae, Ann, Jack, Joe and Vince (and wife Ruth); her favorite in-laws, Bud and Bobbie Mulvaney; good friend and in-law Elizabeth McCormick, Jim and Helen Bennett and many other cousins from the Mulvaney, Bennett and Keiley clans.

She is survived by her two sons, Bill (Cathy) Mulvaney of Hingham and Tom (Jill) Mulvaney of East Helena; her extended family from Havre, grandchildren Jeff (Keri) Lipp and Jackie (Denny) Kannberg; great-grandchildren, Alexa (John) Christian, Mikaela Lipp, Sierra Kannberg, Savanna Kannberg, Jadey Lipp and Jace Lipp; and great-great-grandchildren, Carson and Kage Christian and Dre' Carroll.  

She is also survived by many cousins, including Mike (Jackie) Keiley, Jeannie Keiley, Pat Keiley, Mary (Ethan) Keiley Rogers, Margaret (Mike) Mulvaney Wagner, Patti (Paul) Mulvaney Hunthausen, Fletcher (Karen) Mulvaney, Roy (Cynthia) Mulvaney, Cathy Bennett, Joan (Robert) Bennett English, Eileen (Bob) Bennett Johnson, James J. (Karen) Bennett, Kenneth (Pat) Bennett and a lifetime accumulation of good friends.

A viewing will be held from 10  a.m. to 1  p.m. Thursday, March 19, 2015, at Retz Funeral Home, 315 E. 6th Ave., with a visitation also to be held from 2 to 3 p.m., Thursday, March 19, in the St. Joseph's room at St. Mary's Catholic Community Church, 1700 Missoula Ave. A vigil service will follow the visitation at 3  p.m. Thursday, March 19, at the Church.  

A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 1 p.m. Friday, March 20, at St. Mary's Catholic Community Church followed by the Rite of Committal with military honors at Resurrection Cemetery. A reception will immediately follow the Committal in the Banquet Hall of Anderson Stevenson Wilke Funeral Home, 3750 N. Montana Ave. Please visit http://www.retzfuneralhome.com to offer the family a condolence or to share a memory of Betty.