Ellen Langenbacher Betz

Betz, Ellen. Ellen Langenbacher Betz, age 90, died peacefully March 2, 2016. Her last days were spent surrounded by her favorite things-people who loved her, and a view of trees, birds, and sky. Lovetra Ellen Langenbacher was born August 11, 1925 in St. Charles, Missouri to the late Robert Adam Langenbacher and Georgia Elliott Langenbacher. She is survived by her daughter Nancy Ellen Betz, brother Robert Elliott Langenbacher, sister Cora Mae Nixon, special niece Carole Rebman Gilchrist and nephews/nieces William Sweet, Janet Rossi, Greg Hutcheson, Ann Reid, Karen McGill, and Sue Ellen Grooms. She is also survived by her former husband William Arthur Betz, age 95, and by her honorary step-children (Nancy's half sibs) Peggie, Alison, Richard, and Carolyn Rumery Betz. She was greatly loved by her honorary daughters Christine Smithies and Ruth Fassinger, and by many cherished friends, including Therese Brady, Karen Ball and Chris Wooten, Peg Mosher and Sandy Shullman, Robert Vaneman, Jeanette Losells, and Brian Caulley. She will be remembered by former colleagues and friends at the University of Minnesota and Iowa State University, and by a host of loving friends and admirers at Westminster-Thurber Retirement Communities, King Avenue Methodist Church, and the Rebounders, the OSU women's basketball booster club.

Ellen grew up in rural Missouri, loving the Girl Scouts and all things outdoors, including the family farm, and excelling on the piano and French horn. She received a BA from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. As an undergraduate she was elected to Mortar Board and continued taking lessons on both the piano and French horn. It was during her public performance on campus of the Warsaw Piano Concerto that she was spotted by William Arthur Betz, a law student at Missouri and also a lover of classical music. They were married after graduation in 1948 and moved to Kansas City where their daughter Nancy was born. Ellen and Arthur were divorced in 1951, and Ellen, along with Nancy, moved to Milwaukee where she began a career as a Director within the national organization of the Girl Scouts of the USA. In 1955, Ellen was promoted to a position as regional director of the Girl Scout national offices in a five-state area including Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Based in Minneapolis, she traveled regularly throughout the five states. In 1959 she was promoted to Executive Director of the St. Paul Girl Scout Council.

During these years, she began taking night courses at the University of Minnesota. Applying to graduate school in Psychology in 1964, Ellen was awarded a four year Fellowship in Vocational Rehabilitation from the U.S. Department of Labor. She received a Ph.D in Psychology in 1968 and was appointed Assistant Professor of Psychology and Psychologist in the Student Counseling Service at Iowa State University in Ames. She was tenured in 1973. In 1974 she returned to the University of Minnesota where she was a Psychologist at the Student Counseling Bureau and Professor of Psychology. During her academic career, Ellen was one of the pioneering women in the Division of Counseling Psychology, chairing the first Committee on Women in the Division from 1975-77. Ellen also pioneered in the study of the satisfaction of college students with their studies and personal lives. That work is widely used today.

Throughout her adult life Ellen continued to play the piano, to study nature, and to hike and backpack in the wilderness. She backpacked with the Sierra Club in the High Sierra of California, the Rockies in Idaho, and the White Mountains in New Hampshire. She attended Audubon courses in Maine, and collected a library of books on animals, birds, trees, and plants. One of her favorites was "the Wild Mushroom Handbook", written in 1935 and given to her by her beloved father Robert Langenbacher.

Ellen retired from the University of Minnesota in 1985 and celebrated her retirement by downsizing to a Winnebago RV and traveling the eastern United States with her cats Jenny and Joey. After a brief time living in Sarasota Florida, Ellen moved to Blairsville, Georgia so that she could study at the John Campbell Folk Art School (right over the border in Murphy, North Carolina) and hike the Appalachian Trail. She studied blacksmithing, wood carving, the mountain dulcimer, and fiddle at the John Campbell school and segment-hiked about 400 miles of the AT. At the age of 70 Ellen and Nancy decided that it was time for her to settle in Columbus, where she could be near to Nancy and to excellent health care. An unexpected bonus was that Ellen became an avid Buckeye, rooting especially for football and women's basketball.

During her 21 years living in the Westminster-Thurber Community Ellen volunteered as a Naturalist at the Columbus Metro Parks and the Ohio Wildlife Center, and with the Girl Scouts of Central Ohio (Ohio Heartland Council), including leading a troop at the Weinland Park Elementary School. She tutored Math at Columbus State. She was a member of the Rebounders and often rode on the Rebounders Bus to provide a cheering section for the Lady Buckeye's "away" games. At King Avenue Methodist Church she sang in the choir and served on several committees. She taught piano and studied the guitar, violin, and recorder and later on became an expert painter of (decoy) ducks. She was a strong, loving mother and friend and she delighted in the visits, cards, and calls from her family and many friends.

A memorial service will be held May 1 in the Chapel/Auditorium at Westminster-Thurber Community, 717 Neil Avenue, Columbus. Doors will open at noon for greeting family and friends and a celebration of life will begin at 1 pm. Those wishing to make a donation in Ellen's memory may choose a charity of their choice, or one of Ellen's favorites: the Southern Poverty Law Center (www.donate.splcenter.org ), the Pet Support Committee of Westminster-Thurber Community (C/O Jamie Hobson, 717 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43215), King Avenue Methodist Church (945 Neil Avenue, Columbus 43212) or Ohio House Rabbit Rescue (611 Overbrook Drive, Columbus 43214, c/o Pat Barron). Arrangements entrusted to SCHOEDINGER WORTHINGTON CHAPEL, 6699 North High Street.