Betty J. (Carpenter) Harmon

Monday, October 28, 2013

June 16, 1919 - Oct. 11, 2013

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Betty J. (Carpenter) Harmon passed away Friday, Oct. 11, 2013, at Hillcrest Nursing Home.

Betty was born on June 16, 1919, at Campbell, Nebraska to Tarlington Bates and Minnie Blanche (Harvey) Carpenter.

When Betty was just a baby her mother was injured in an accident, so Betty went to stay with her Grandmother Harvey and Great-grandfather Meyers on a farm near Hadam, Kansas, while her mother recuperated. Great- grandfather Meyers agreed to this but he said she would have to stay with them until he died. Great-grandfather Meyers was 87 at that time and he lived to be 96 years old, so Betty was 9-years-old before she moved back with her family who by then had moved to McCook.

Betty lived the remainder of her life in McCook. She graduated from McCook High School in 1937. During her school years Betty worked at the Olympia and the Fox Theatre, after graduation she worked as a bookkeeper for Firestone Tire Co.

Betty married Lewis A. "Bud" Harmon on Aug. 20, 1938, in Boulder Colorado. To this union seven children were born; Linda, Mike, Tracy, Kirby, Jean, Ann and Teresa.

For the remainder of her life, Betty was Bud's partner in many and varied business ventures. They owned restaurants, several neighborhood grocery stores, a restaurant supply business and eventually turned all their energy into manufacturing Liquid Malt, Gobs of Glob, Sizzle Seeds, Liquid Tea base and Cinnamon Toothpicks. Betty was the pencil pusher behind the man with the ideas and they made an incredible team.

Betty was a member of St. Alban's Episcopal Church and active in women's organizations for many years. She was an avid bridge player and always played cards with her children and grandchildren.

Preceding Betty in death were: her husband Lewis "Bud" Harmon; her parents; son, Tracy; daughters, Linda, Kirby and Ann; granddaughters, Christine and Melissa; brothers, Robert (Iris), George (Margaret) and Jerome (Janice) Carpenter; sisters, Twilda (Walt) Aman and Mary (Leonard) Paulson.

Betty is survived by her son, Michael (Janice) Harmon of McCook; daughters, Jean (Terry) Hallowell of McCook and Teresa Stanfield of Fort Worth, Texas; grandsons, Jeff, Scott and Brian Boone, Gabriel Harmon, Amos and Zachary McPherson, Ryan and Tye Hallowell and Andrew Davis; granddaughters, Heather Udayan, Kamas Harmon, Chavalan Carpenter, Cassandra Lashley and Elizabeth Ann Davis; and 21 great-grandchildren.

Memorials may be given in her name to St. Alban's Episcopal Church.

Memorial services will be Saturday, Nov. 2, 2013, 11 a.m. at St. Alban's Episcopal Church with Father Charles Peek officiating. Inurnment will follow in Memorial Park Cemetery.

Carpenter Breland Funeral Home of McCook is in charge of the arrangements.