Betty Duncan Obituary

Memorial services for lifelong area resident Betty R. Duncan will be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 19 at Ertel Memorial Chapel. Inurnment will follow at Lewis Cemetery. Pastor Ted Duncan will officiate.

Betty was born Oct. 11, 1919 in Lewis the daughter of William Griffith and Roxie Elizabeth (Lewis) Rutherford. She passed away Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012 at Southwest Memorial Hospital at the age of 92.

In 1938 Betty married Robert A. Duncan. She was an active member of the Lewis Grange, and Betty was head of the Laubach Literacy Council in Cortez. She taught and tutored until she was 88 years old. Betty was an accomplished writer, having published her first poem when she was six years old. She was very proud of the fact that she was able to publish a newsletter up until the time of her passing. Family, friends and flowers thrived in Betty's garden. Her love for language, literature, and literacy touched the lives of many. We will miss her pretty words.

Surviving Betty are her children, Lonnie Duncan of Fox, Alaska, Ted Duncan and wife, Margie of Bakersfield, Calif., Dana Baxstrom and husband, Gene of Dolores, and Sandra Simmer and husband, Bob of San Diego, Calif.; 15 grandchildren; and 25 great-grandchildren. Betty also leaves behind her siblings, Dixie Sturman of Cortez, Jean Martin of Cortez, and Jo Rutherford of Denver.

Betty was preceded in death by her parents, Griff and Roxie Rutherford; her husband, Robert A. Duncan; her son, Grant Duncan; her daughter-in-law, Billie Duncan; her grandchildren, Brent Baxstrom and Mindy Lutz; her siblings, Bob Rutherford and Russell Rutherford; and by her brothers-in-law, Jim Sturman, Ted Chiono, and Claude Martin.

Services are under the direction of Ertel Funeral Home. For further information or to send condolences, log on to www.ertelfuneralhome.com and click on the obituary section.