Betty B. McDougal Stevens, a lifelong Kansas resident, died August 2, 2014 at Kansas City Hospice House after a short illness.

Betty was born December 17, 1926, in Lane, Kansas, the fourth of five children, to Charles Alonzo “Lonnie” McDougal and Anver Larra McColly McDougal. She graduated from Osawatomie High School in 1944 and then went to Baker University for one semester. She also worked at the Sunflower Ammunition Factory.

She was married December 24, 1944, to Elery N. Stevens and they had eight children.

Betty spent many years as a homemaker in Lane, before working in various positions including: Osawatomie State Hospital, King Radio, JCPenney, and Safeway.

Betty excelled as a homemaker and mother and was an active participant in the Lane Extension Homemakers Unit. Each year there was a huge family garden and Betty canned or preserved most of the produce. The garden was also a source of learning for her children and she always encouraged them to participate in the Lane fair and display the fruit of their gardening labors.

One particular thing that was always important to Betty was that her children all learn to swim and she dutifully set aside the money and made the time to take all of them to swimming lessons every summer and most of them ended up qualified as lifeguards. Betty drew upon her many domestic skills in retirement, creating many beautiful sewing projects, paintings, and quilts. Elery and Betty participated in many craft shows and fairs and loved to travel before Elery became too ill to continue. Elery was lost to Betty on September 8, 1990, after nearly 46 years of marriage.

On May 11, 1995, Betty married Joseph E. “Doc” Beets. They shared a mutual love of dancing and spent many an hour “cutting a rug” at senior citizen dances. Betty and “Doc” also traveled, visiting relatives and interesting places both on their own and with local tour groups. Their union lasted nearly 17 years before “Doc” passed away on March 17, 2012.

Betty was an amazing woman; a true dynamo. She raised seven children, kept a clean house, fulfilled everyone’s needs and still managed to teach her daughters how to sew and cook, as well as be active in teaching sewing and cooking in the 4-H group. Betty was always well known within the family for her green thumb and her success at gardening, and later for her rekindled love of dancing. She had beautiful blue eyes that lit up when she smiled. She was always full of energy and never complained. She was a very skilled seamstress and created beautiful quilts for each of her children. Betty had also painted for many years and her children enjoy many beautiful objects which she created. Above all, her children remember her for her unwavering love. Despite her love of travel and dancing, which led to a busy calendar, Betty always had time and room for visitors, especially her children and grandchildren.

In her later years, Betty suffered from dementia that left her unable to care for herself, but was fortunate to be able to live with and be cared for by her daughter Cheryl, son-in-law Andy, and her grandchildren Antoine and Kayla, until her final illness overcame her.

Besides her two husbands, Betty was preceded in death by her parents; two sons, infant Michael Andrew Stevens in 1951, and Gary Dean Stevens in 1981; her four brothers, Joyce A McDougal, Lewis R McDougal, Donald E McDougal,and Robert C McDougal; her son-in-law Billy Torrez; and her step-daughter Mary Beets Keith.

Betty is survived by her children Phillip Stevens (Vickie) of Tyler, Texas; Linda Stevens Torrez of Spring Hill; Jeffrey Stevens (Marsha) of Raymore, Missouri; Janice Stevens (Al Germann) of Sherman, Texas; Brenda Stevens-Ricci (Roland) of Nixa, Missouri; and Cheryl Stevens Page (Andy) of Overland Park; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Betty is also survived by her sisters-in-law, , Margo Bessant of California, Mary McDougal of Paola, Kathleen McDougal of rural Osawatomie, and Betty Jean Stevens of Osawatomie; many extended family members; and her step-daughters, Rhonda Beets Snyder and Connie Beets McDaniel, both of Lane.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations in Betty’s memory to the Alzheimer’s Association (www.alz.org), Kansas City Hospice (www.kansascityhospice.org), or the charity of the donor’s choice.

Eddy Birchard Funeral Home at 203 Main Street in Osawatomie, Kansas has been entrusted with arrangements. Visitation will be at the funeral home from 6pm to 8pm on Monday, August 4, and services will be held at the Eddy- Birchard Chapel at 1:30pm on Tuesday, August 5, with burial at Lane Cemetery to follow.