Appley, Betty Rose 1923-2016

APPLEY, WEATHERALL

Posted By: Doris Hoffman, Volunteer (email)
Date: 7/29/2017 at 12:56:58

Betty Rose Appley

April 26, 1923 - November 22, 2016

Betty R. Appley, 93 of Akron, Iowa, passed away on Tuesday, November 22, 2016 at Hillcrest Health Care Center in Hawarden, Iowa.

A Funeral Service will be held at 11:00 a.m., Wednesday, November 30, 2016 at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Elk Point, SD. There will be a private family burial at Riverside Cemetery prior to the service at the church. Visitation with the family present will be from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. with a Prayer Service at 8:00 p.m., all on Tuesday, November 29, 2016 all at the Rexwinkel - Schroeder Funeral Home in Akron, Iowa.

Betty Rose Weatherall was born on April 26, 1923 to George and Rose Weatherall in Roxburgh, New Zealand. She grew up in South Island, New Zealand and attended public school in Wanaka. After high school, she attended art school for a short time and continued to paint throughout her life. After school, she began working full time for the Treasury in Wellington, New Zealand. During World War II, she met James Appley, from rural Akron, Iowa, while he was serving in the United States Marine Corp. Following the war, she left her family and country to travel to the United States to wed James. They were married on September 19, 1946 in Las Vegas, Nevada. They made their home in rural Union County, South Dakota, where they farmed until James retired. James passed away on April 21, 2010. Betty was a member of Eastern Star and Immanuel Lutheran Church in Akron, Iowa. For twenty five years during their retirement, she and James spent their winters in Texas.

Betty was a rare woman to leave all that she knew to travel halfway around the world to make a life for herself in a rural South Dakota. She was a woman of courage, strength and tenaciousness. She cared for her husband and raised eight children, whom she loved fiercely. She started a 10,000 chicken egg operation. She got her real estate license when she was in her fifties. She displayed her china painting and art in shows in both Akron, Iowa and Texas. She loved books and crossword puzzles and could often be found doing both in her later life.

Betty is survived by her eight children: Kurt (Nancy) Appley of Akron, Lynda (Bill) Hicks of Willman, MN, Cynthia (Jim) Hayes of Akron, Dave (Valerie) Appley of Akron, Dan (Cindy) Appley of Akron, Wendy (Burke) Thornburg of Portland, OR, Shirley (Charles) Weldon of Tulsa, OK, and Becky (John) Boesch of Washougal, WA; 17 grandchildren; 23 great grandchildren; her sister, Julie Thomas of New Zealand; and many other nieces, nephews, and other relatives. She will be missed but her legacy lives on in the family she loved so deeply.

Betty is preceded in death by her parents, husband, James, and four brothers.

Rexwinkel-Schroeder Funeral Home
Akron, Iowa