Betty Bunting

Beatrice Rose Bunting, known as Betty, she hated the name Beatrice, passed away on October 8, 2014. She was born on August 12, 1917 in Mapleton, Minnesota. Her father and mother, Frank and Maude Garvin, lived on a homestead in rural Eastern Montana, but traveled to their former home in Mapleton for her birth due to lack of hospitals where they lived.

Betty lived with her parents in Montana until she was two years of age. At that time, they moved to Colorado. Her father attended the University of Colorado as an undergraduate, and members of his family had settled in the Boulder area. He opened a general store in Berthoud, where the family remained. When Betty was 5, her little sister June was born. Betty helped care for her when June developed some form of polio or infantile paralysis.

Betty attended school in Berthoud through high school, holding several different class offices, and then went to college at Colorado State Teachers College (now UNC) in Greeley. After graduation, she took a teaching position for two years in Sugar City, Colorado.

While in college she met her future husband, James W. (Jim) Bunting. They were married on October 5, 1942 in Kimball, Nebraska. Shortly thereafter, Jim went overseas with the Army, spending most of World War II in North Africa, and finally coming home in the summer of 1946. During his deployment, Betty taught school in Fort Lupton, Colorado. When Jim came home from the war, Betty became a homemaker. They adopted two children, Robert in 1950, and Beverly in 1954.

Betty was preceded in death by her parents, her sister June, and her husband Jim, who died in 1999.

Betty is survived by Robert Bunting (Jonna) of Arvada, Colorado, and Beverly Wisdom (Steve) of Kenai, Alaska, four grandchildren (Jennifer, Michael, Jason, and Jamie), and three great grandchildren (Emily, Joel, and Dylan). Betty loved all of them dearly, and her first question when visited by Robert or Beverly was “what do you hear from your kids?”.

We know Mom is in a better place now, but we will all miss her very much. She passed away peacefully during the lunar eclipse on what would have been Dad’s 97th birthday.

Visitation will be from 4:00-7:00 p.m. Friday, October 17, 2014 at Stoddard Funeral Home. Graveside service will be at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, October 18, 2014 at Sunset Memorial Gardens.

Please visit www.stoddardsunset.com to sign an online guestbook.