Elizabeth Mae Pfutzenreuter Bellinger

Elizabeth "Liz"/"Betty" Mae Pfutzenreuter Bellinger, 92, of Lake Forest, CA died at Joyful Home II, Laguna Hills, on Sunday, July 27, 2014, of natural causes.

She was born Dec. 9, 1921, in Aberdeen, SD, a daughter of William and Gean Allen Pfutzenreuter of Hecla, SD. Liz graduated from Hecla High School in 1939, then attended Augsburg College, Minneapolis, and the University of Iowa, Iowa City, from which she graduated in 1943.

At the University of Iowa, Liz met her future husband Dale A. Bellinger, and they were married on January 22, 1944, at the home of her parents. The couple lived first in Iowa City (where Dale finished his degree in 1945 and their first child Jean was born) and then in Waterloo, Iowa, where they reared a family of 6 children and were active in Westminster Presbyterian Church.

In 1962 the family moved to Anaheim where another child was born. In 1970 they moved to Tustin, where they owned and operated Dale's Shoes and the couple became active in Red Hill Lutheran Church.

Liz was a teacher of junior and senior high English and social studies in Iowa and California, primarily as a substitute while rearing her children. After her children were grown, she was employed at the Good Shepherd Homes, working with developmentally disabled adults.

She is survived by daughters Jean Bellinger (Lake Forest) and her children Nathaniel Pinckney (Ann Arbor, MI) and Caitlin (Shaun) McGinley (Ladera Ranch; Nancy (John) Pelletier (Mesa, AZ) and their children Elizabeth (Stephen) Bell (Mission Viejo) and Jeffrey Pelletier (Mesa); Ellen Wood (Rancho Santa Margarita); and Ann (Drew) Welzig (Liberty Lake, WA) and their children Laura Welzig (Henderson, NV), Peter (Samantha) and Stephanie Welzig (Liberty Lake), and Andrew Welzig (Coeur D'Alene, ID) and sons John Bellinger; Michael (Carol) Bellinger (Irvine) and their children Nicholas and Kelsey Bellinger (Irvine); and William (Katherine) Bellinger (Laguna Niguel). She is also survived by four great-grandchildren.

Liz was preceded in death by her parents, her brothers Norman and William Pfutzenreuter, her sister Dorothy Howard, and her husband.

Services were held at El Toro Memorial Park and Cemetery where she is buried.

Memorials may be made to Red Hill Lutheran Church, Tustin, CA.