VIRGINIA BEACH — Betty A. Wemhoff, 76, passed away Tuesday, July 7, 2020.
Betty was born June 25, 1944, in Lynch, Nebraska, to Scott W. Gray and Vera O. Gray (Mikkelson). She attended primary school through high school in Lynch. She was a drummer for the “Marching Eagles” marching band in the high school.
Her mother passed away when she was 5 years old; she was raised by her father, with assistance from her older sisters and her aunt, Lotasca Spencer. As a young girl, Betty worked on the family farm outside of Lynch, helping her father putting up hay and other farming chores. When their family moved back into town, she worked at the locally owned grocery store. She enjoyed ice skating. In the winter, she and her friend, Marlene, would skate on the Ponca Creek to a town nearly 10 miles away and then back home. When she graduated from high school, she moved to Norfolk, Nebraska, to be near her sister, Ruth Ann. She started working there as a waitress, and that is where she met her future husband, Dave.
They were married April 2, 1966, at Sacred Heart Church, Norfolk, and lived there until Dave entered the U.S. Navy in 1972. Betty spent several years working at Our Lady of Lourdes hospital as a nurse’s aide. She spent most all of that time working in the nursery and grew to love that work. As a Navy wife, she lived in Millington, Tennessee, and San Diego, California. Her time was spent raising their two sons, Brian and Daniel. While Dave was on an extended tour outside of the U.S., Betty moved to Colorado. She worked as a nurse’s aide in a nursing home while she went to college and learned bookkeeping and accounting. From Colorado, she moved to Virginia to live with Dave, as he was transferred there. She became a bookkeeper for L&S Heating and Air. After several years there, when the owners retired, she moved to Waterfront Electric, starting as a bookkeeper and moving soon to office manager. She retired from Waterfront Electric in 2011.
Betty loved baseball, stock car racing and camping in their motor home. Her favorite team was the Norfolk Tides Triple “A” team.
Betty was married for 54 years. As a part of celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary, she fulfilled a long held dream when she and Dave took a trip to London, England, followed by a two-week cruise going to Ireland, the Shetland Islands and Scotland, where she fell in love with the beauty and peacefulness of the country.
She is survived by her husband, Dave; two sons, Brian, of Moyock, North Carolina and Dan, Norfolk; brother, Richard, Atkinson, Nebraska; and sisters, Margret DeBlauw of Hartington, Nebraska, and Beverly Miller, Alamogordo, New Mexico.
She was preceded in death by her mother and father; and two sisters, Ruth Ann Fry and Abby Westover.
The family will receive friends from 10 to 11 a.m., Tuesday, July 14 at the Catholic Church of Saint Mark. A memorial Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. at the church.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you make a charitable donation to your favorite charity in her name.
Share online condolences with the family at Hollomon-Brown Funeral Home & Crematory.
