Aug. 19, 1907 – Mar. 1, 2010
(yes, that’s 102½)
Born on August 19, 1907 in Liverpool, England. In 1926, Betty decided to follow her brother Eric Dick and move to Saskatchewan. Three years later she moved to Victoria where she met and married Nathaniel Stevens in 1932. After becoming a widow, Betty trained as a Dental Hygienist, and was posted overseas in 1942.
After the war Betty returned to live in Vancouver and began working with the local Girl Guide movement. She eventually became a commissionaire for the organization. In 1952 she moved to Port Alberni where she met and married Tom Rannie, the local radio announcer. They were transferred to Chilliwack when Tom got a job working for the radio, CHWK.
Both of them became involved with the local theatre community and helped form the Chilliwack Little Theatre which ran for a few years out of the Charles Laughton Theatre. This group later became known as the current Chilliwack Players Guild. Betty became a life member of the guild and, until she retired, was one of its eldest members.
Betty served on the Chilliwack Hospital Auxiliary for 35 years, renowned for the many baby outfits she knitted. For a number of years she worked for the Cultus Lake Laboratory of the International Pacific Salmon Fisheries Commission.
Betty passed away quietly on March 1, 2010 after spending the last 2 years at the Bradley Centre. She will be missed by her loving family, niece Barbara [Dave] Flewelling and their children, Stephen [Marcie], Susan [Mike] all of Ontario, and her nephew, John [Patsy] Dick and their children, Allan, Matthew and Andrew all living in Nova Scotia. Her cousin, Betty Green and her other ‘family’, David [Hanne] Glyn-Jones and his sons, Eric [Eleanor] and Chris and her dear friend, Lorraine Mullin and her two daughters, Jane and Sarah.
Opinionated, sometimes blunt, but never unkind, Betty would sometimes shake her head at the behaviors of these modern days, saying, in the words of her beloved William Shakespeare, “Oh, what fools these mortals be!”
We love you Betty, and we will miss you!
Forthright as ever, Betty commanded there be no funeral service. For those of us remaining, we thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.