Betty Jean “Betts” Buelow, 87, of Marysville, peacefully left this earth on Friday, August 8, 2014.
She was born June 23, 1927 in Lincoln Park, the youngest of four children of the late George L. and Rilla Mae Munro. At the age of 15 she got her first job as a soda fountain jerk at a local drug store in River Rouge, Lovelands.
Two months before graduating from River Rouge High School in 1946, she was devastated to find out her parents couldn’t afford to send her to college. So upon graduation, she become employed by Michigan Bell as a telephone operator, where she worked for several years.
Betty and the one and only man in her life, James Lewis Buelow, were married in Detroit on August 28, 1948. With two small children, they made Marysville their home in 1963 when the Chrysler Corporation relocated their Jefferson Plant to Marysville and transferred Jim to what Betty perceived as “the end of the earth”, and often referred to as “the sticks” and/or “the boondocks”.
As a wife and mother with a young family, she chose to be a stay at home mom. She was a hardworking, busy homemaker for the majority of the rest of her life. She was totally devoted to and loved her family, which was clearly her highest priority, and being a mother, her greatest joy.
Family traditions and holidays, especially Christmas, were important to her and she always made sure birthdays were extra special.
The devotion she had toward her very active family developed into a new career for her as a “sports widow/mom”. She became a three generation “bleacher wife, mom and grandma”, who supported and followed her husband, two children, and two grandsons for many games, seasons and years of several different sports.
Betty was a very active individual herself until 1968 when the family was involved in a car accident resulting in injuries that significantly changed her life. Up until that time she was a very avid golfer and bowler. Since 1954 she had bowled on a team in a weekly women’s league. In 1967 she was instrumental in forming and becoming the first president of the women’s golf league at the Marysville Golf Course that is still in existence today.
Since 1975 she was a very active lifetime member and past President (1883-1984) of the American Legion Women’s Auxiliary Marysville Post #449. She was also a life member of O.E.S. Marysville Chapter #451 and a member of Women of the Moose Chapter #99 since 1989.
Later in life, her favorite interests and pastimes included playing Bingo, the Michigan Lottery and casino slot machines. She started playing Bingo with her mother when she was 15 years old. In her later years it was commonly known how much she enjoyed playing several halls with the numerous Bingo friends that she had collected/acquired through the years.
When it came to playing the lottery, her philosophy was, “you can’t win if you don’t play”, and play she did! For years she won countless instant winners of $5, $10, and $25. She firmly believed and always said she “would hit the big one”. And so she did. In 1976, she won $20,000 in the Michigan lottery and used those winnings to buy a new car for her family and to pay a portion of college tuition for each of her children.
She also enjoyed playing the slots, and thoroughly enjoyed taking bus trips with dear friends to casinos on Indian Reservations in the U.S. and Canada.
Betty was a kind, caring, thoughtful, considerate, and generous person who ALWAYS anticipated the needs of others and put them ahead of her own. She absolutely believed her calling in life was to be a wife and mother. It was very apparent that her life revolved around her family and she was happiest just to have them together, even through her last days.
She is survived by her husband of 65 years, James; a daughter, Janet M. Buelow, formerly of St. Thomas, USVI; a son, Timothy (Kyle) Buelow of Marysville; two grandchildren, Capt. Brandon (Angela) Buelow of McGuire USAF Base, New Jersey and Andrew Buelow of Harlingen, Texas; several brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, nieces and nephews, dear lifelong friends and other special friends; two granddogs, Kona and Keko of Marysville; and two great granddogs, Koa and Zeo of New Jersey.
She was preceded in death by her first born son, James Hugh, who died shortly after birth; all of her siblings and their spouses, Alvin (Vivian) Munro, George (Penny) Munro, and Thelma (Robert) Symmons; her parents-in-law, Evert and Evelyn Evans and Lewis and Louise Buelow; a niece, Desta Makowski; several lifelong friends and many other special friends including her Bingo buddies; and one very special granddog, TJ.
Visitation will be from 2-5 p.m. and 6-9 p.m. Tuesday in the Marysville Funeral Home.
Funeral services will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, August 13, 2014 in Marysville Funeral Home with visitation beginning at 9:30 a.m. The Reverend Max Amstutz will officiate.
Burial will be in Riverlawn Cemetery, Marysville.
Memorials may be made to the American Legion Women’s Auxiliary Marysville Post #449.
Betty’s family wishes to acknowledge the excellent care and attention that Betty received over the past 2 years from the staff at The Medilodge of St. Clair.
