Bethel Grabo Stanley

Bethel was born on June 17, 1930 in Lansing, Michigan, to parents Leo William Frank and Ella Flora (Grabo) Frank. Bethel was a “Daddy’s girl.” Each evening, Bethel would curl up on her father’s lap as he read to her after returning from his work as a Michigan State Police Trooper. Her father taught her to read even before she entered school. Reading remained a lifelong passion of Bethel’s, as you could tell by the small stacks of books sprinkled on tables around her apartment.

Bethel married her high school sweetheart, Roland “Rollie” Glenn Stanley, on Easter Sunday, April 13, 1952. Rollie was the love of her life, and they were happily married for 61 years. Always a stellar student, Bethel graduated from Lansing Eastern High School in January 1948, attended Albion College briefly, and then returned to Lansing to complete her training as a Registered Nurse at St. Lawrence Catholic Hospital. She worked as a hospital floor nurse until she became a mother. Together, Bethel and Rollie raised two beloved children, Kurt and Karla. Later, Bethel returned to school to earn her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Nazareth College in Kalamazoo. She was determined to get her BSN before her oldest child graduated from college, and she did.

Bethel went on to serve the Kalamazoo County Health Department as a Public Health Nurse, conducting home visits, school health clinics, and vaccination clinics. She thoroughly enjoyed this work, which she continued until her retirement. After her retirement, Bethel and Rollie moved to Dimondale, Michigan to care for her aging parents, later returning to Kalamazoo to continue caring for Bethel’s mother.

Throughout her life, Bethel loved adventure. She and Rollie traveled widely. They spent six weeks in Europe with Kurt and Karla during their high school years, six weeks in China, and traveled to Australia and New Zealand, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Scandinavia, Hawaii, and Alaska. They even spent 28 days on a cruise through the Panama Canal. For more than a decade, they wintered in a condo in Ft. Myers, Florida, and later lived beside a nature preserve in Kalamazoo, where their grandchildren made cherished memories exploring the outdoors. Even at age 95, Bethel was always ready to go out for lunch or a drive, especially on a day when the sun was warm and the skies were blue.

Bethel had a strong faith in God. She was a lifelong Lutheran and a member of the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kalamazoo. For many summers, Bethel and Rollie treated the extended family to a week at Camp Arcadia, a Lutheran family church camp on the shores of Lake Michigan, weeks that were filled with family togetherness and faith. Bethel’s faith sustained her through life’s storms, including cancer and Covid-19, with grace, courage, and optimism.

Bethel’s happiest moments were spent with family and friends. She delighted in celebrating every birthday, holiday, and gathering that brought her loved ones together. In her later years, her daughter Karla was her best friend and guardian angel. Bethel was overjoyed when her grandson Evan married Mary Kate Vollmer, and was over the moon when her great-grandchildren, Leo and Henry, who loved riding on her walker, were born. She was tickled pink when her granddaughter Jocelyn married Robel Rezene and settled nearby in Kalamazoo. She was glad to see Karla, Kurt, and his wife Julie enjoying their retirements, and she took great interest in the lives and adventures of her grandsons Nick, Patrick, and Daniel, as they grew up and became young adults. Bethel was the heart of her family, a source of warmth, joy, and unwavering love. She will be deeply missed.

Bethel was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Roland Glenn Stanley, in 2013. She is survived by her children, Kurt (Julie) Stanley and Karla (Dan) Stanley; her grandchildren, Evan (Mary Kate) Sloan, Jocelyn (Robel) Sloan, Nicholas Stanley, Patrick Stanley, and Daniel Stanley; and her great-grandchildren, Leo Sloan and Henry Sloan.

Memorial donations may be made to Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kalamazoo.