Betty Ann Missling

Betty Ann Grapevine Missling was born on August 5, 1936 in Storden, Minnesota to Charles O. and Bernice B. (Higgins) Grapevine. She was the only girl with eight brothers. She was baptized at Bethany Lutheran Church in Storden with four of her brothers when she was five years old. She attended Storden Public School graduating in the Class of 1954.

On June 20, 1954, Betty was united in marriage to Arlen Missling. She lived in El Paso, TX and Chicago, IL while Arlen served in the US Army. Her son David was born at Great Lakes Naval Hospital while living in Chicago. After Arlen was discharged from the Army she worked in the credit department of Sears, Roebuck & Co. while Arlen attended the University of Minnesota. After Arlen’s graduation Betty lived in Blaine and Coon Rapids, MN. Suzanne and Amanda were born while she lived in Blaine. After the children graduated from high school, she worked at Bakers Square for ten years.

Betty was found to have lung cancer in July 2016 and it was discovered in her brain in January 2017. She was taken to Mercy Hospital because of swelling of the brain on March 11, 2017 and then to rehab at the Park River Estates Care Center. She entered home hospice on April 4, 2017 and entered heaven on April 23, 2017 at the age of 80 years, eight months and 18 days. She was married to Arlen for 62 years, 10 months and three days. A celebration of Betty's life was held at Peace Lutheran Church Coon Rapids on April 28, 2017. She was cremated and will be buried at FT. Snelling national Cemetery when Arlen is buried there.

Betty was a member of Peace Lutheran Church of Coon Rapids for 55 years. She belonged to Martha Circle, served as a nursery attendant, taught Sunday School, served on the pews crew and the deposit counting team and helped pack food baskets.

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Betty met Arlen for the first time on May 21, 1952. Arlen and two friends were visiting in front of a restaurant in Jeffers, MN. Betty and two friends had decided to drive to Jeffers from Storden. They drove by the restaurant and honked the horn at the guys. One of Arlen's friends, John Giese, said he knew one of the girls in the car and yelled at her. The girls stopped and the three boys jumped in the car. Betty happened to be matched up with Arlen. They visited for a while and then the girls returned to Storden. A couple of weeks later John mention to Arlen that he was going to go to Storden. Arlen asked him if he would stop at the cafe in Storden, Betty's father owned it and she worked there, to see if Betty would like to see him the next Saturday night.. She told John yes and Betty and Arlen had their first date on June 7, 1952. They started to date steady on June 21, 1952. They were engaged on July 2, 1953.

When Betty's mother died she was given her mother's handkerchiefs. She kept these handkerchiefs for 61 years. When she found that she was not going to survive her cancer she asked that these handkerchiefs be divided among her nieces and a living sister-in-law so they had mementos of the grandmother and mother-in-law. These were passed out at her memorial service. She also asked that her nieces be her honorary urn bearers.

Betty was a very sentimental person. She had written a diary of when she and Arlen first met, started dating and were engaged. She bought silverware for her dowry for her marriage to Arlen. She kept her wedding planning book, the wedding cake topper and some aprons from her wedding. She had the baptismal card from David's sponsors. Betty kept her Luther's Small Catechism from when she attended confirmation classes and she also kept a book of prayers that was given to her by her Sunday School teacher when she was 9 years old. Betty had a cedar chest where the family new she kept some mementos. When it was opened we found that she had kept all of her children's baptismal clothes and blankets and the children's first hard soled shoes. David was baptized when she lived in Chicago while Arlen was in the Army. That means she had kept his baptismal items through five moves by the family until the cedar chest was purchased in 1979. The chest also contained an Eskimo papoose that her brother Charles and sent to her when he was in the Army and stationed in Alaska. She was seven years old when he sent the doll to her.

Betty kept a book with a page for each day of the year. She recorded all her relatives and friends birthdays and wedding anniversaries in this book. This was her bible if there was a question about a birthday or anniversary. If she was asked about a birthday or wedding anniversary she had memorized what month the birth or wedding occurred and would look it up in the book.

Betty's Grandson, Josh (nine years old), has spent either Thursday or Saturday afternoon at her house since he was two years old. When he entered grade school he would quiz Betty about American history while riding from his house to Betty's house. He would start with some event in the past, for example George Washington's birthday, and ask her what year that occurred. He would then select events from that time forward for Betty to name the year it occurred. Betty would make many guesses of what year the event occurred until she guessed the right one. One Saturday she was guessing the year on the first try and really enjoying herself. She finally confessed that she had looked up all the events that she was being quizzed about and listed them on a sheet of paper. She did all this research so she could fool Josh. When Josh found out what she had done, he called it her "cheat sheet". From then on he would make sure Grandma did not have her cheat sheet when he was quizzing her.

Betty met her best friend Rosemary Oven while living in Blaine. They spent many hours playing Dominoes together. While living in Blaine, she enjoyed visiting with the neighbor ladies at their morning coffee clutches. Betty enjoyed reading Harlequin books, researching on Ancestry. com and watching tennis on TV. She researched the family ancestry on her mother’s side back to 1270. Her favorite vacation was a trip to Germany in 1999.

She sincerely loved her children (she called them her babies) and grandchildren. She especially enjoyed family reunions and making trips to visit her brothers in California and New York. She enjoyed life, laughed easily and enjoyed hugging and teasing her grandchildren. She kept her sense of humor right up to her last days.

Betty will be remembered for being a wonderful wife and mom and a fabulous grandma. She is survived by her husband Arlen; son David (Agnes); daughters Suzanne (Jeff) Bomstad and Amanda (George) Sawyer; grandchildren Jake and Kelsey Bomstad and Joshua Missling; brothers Gerald (Francy) and Larry (Kathy) Grapevine; sister in law Karen Grapevine and numerous nieces, nephews, and other relatives and many friends.

She is preceded in death by her parents Charles and Bernice and her brothers; Edward, Charles, William, Leland, Richard and John Grapevine and granddaughter Megan Bomstad.