Constance “Betty” Goetz
June 10, 1923 - March 28, 2012
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Constance “Betty” Goetz
June 10, 1923 - March 28, 2012
Obituary
Constance Elizabeth ‘Betty’ Goetz, almost 89, died in her own bed at Atria Woodbridge in Irvine, California, March 28. She had suffered a major heart attack earlier in the month.
Betty was born June 10, 1923, in Minster, Ohio, the ninth child of Anna Hemmelgarn and Anthony Knapke. She grew up in Minster in the family home across the street from the Catholic church where her father played the organ when he wasn’t working a the school principal.
She met John Goetz through friends and carried on a long distance romance when he was sent overseas to participate in the second wave of the Normandy invasion of World War II. He was wounded and captured but survived to come home and marry Betty in 1945. Betty graduated from Minster High School and worked as a nurse in Ohio during the war.
While raising their six children they made their home first in Renssalaer, Indiana and Pittsburg, Pennsylvania before settling in Fairborn, Ohio. In 1957, they moved with John’s work to Southern California and made their longtime home on Woodward Boulevard in Pasadena.
Betty was a social and friendly person who enjoyed her role in the neighborhood as mother of her active crowd of children and their friends. Her husband John once said, ‘Betty is the one who taught me how to have fun.’
After John’s death in 1980 she continued to live in their home in Pasadena. She enjoyed and continued to play tennis past her 80th birthday. In 2009, she moved to Irvine.
She is survived by her six children, eleven grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
5 responses to Constance “Betty” Goetz
Steve Goetz says:
March 30, 2012
2 files added to the tribute wall
Steve Goetz says:
March 30, 2012
3 files added to the tribute wall
Lyn M. Brophy says:
March 31, 2012
I will never forget the time I thought Aunt Betty was going to get us kicked out of Disneyland. We were doing a water ride and she started splashing everyone with her oar. I had driven out with my cousin, Paul Knapke, my brother, Gary and my sister, Jill. I was 16. Betty always had a fun loving spirit. You have my sincere sympathy.
Lyn (Muhlenkamp) Brophy
St.Henry, Ohio
Carmen Olivares says:
April 1, 2012
Betty wsa a dear friend and we enjoyned all the parties with John and Joe. We would trade off party locations and have them at each others homes. We especially enjoyed the PTA paries.
She was my walking partner for many years up and down Woodward. In later years, we had an additinal walking partner, Sally, who sadly is no longer with us. At times we would have an additional “little” partner named Sarah!
We both had something in common in that both our families had kids going to the same schools.
All in all, Betty and I enjoyed each other’s company very much. I have missed my freind and I’ll always have happy mmemories of her. She wiill be dearly missed.
Carmen Olivares
Melanie (Knapke) Taylor says:
April 3, 2012
It was always a treat when our California cousins made the trip to Ohio. With Aunt Betty and Uncle John around, there were sure to be good times. My thoughts and prayers are with the family. Melanie (Knapke) Taylor