Bettie Kennedy

Bettie Lee (Sis) Kennedy Born June 16, 1942 in Sweet Home, OR to James Wesley and Della Pearl Carter she passed away on May 25, 2010 at 5:55am with family by her side. Preceded by her parents and loving husband Robert (only one short year ago). Survived by 4 children, John Kennedy, Jack (Lisa) Kennedy, Wes (Lisa) Kennedy, Jennifer (Steven) Bishop, 20 grandchildren and 17 great-Grandchildren, stepmother Aliene (Harold) Ball and siblings, James (Sonny) (Gloria) Carter, Pearl (Tracy) Kobold, Deloris (Gary) Brandt, Donald (Ava) Carter, Jimmy Carter and Debbie (Bill) Johnson. Bettie grew up in her birthplace and loved the greenery, the beautiful scenery and fishing. She recently said one of her fondest memories was picking berries in Oregon. She was the second born and after the parting of her parents she would travel back and forth to Denver, CO where she met the love of her life, Bobby. Bob and Bettie shared a true love and were married April 19, 1960. She was a wonderful wife and loved cooking. In January of 1961 she became a mother to John. She and Bob went on to have two more sons Jack and Wes; she loved every minute of it. Then for fear on not being able to have that girl, they adopted Jennifer in 1967…finishing out the family. Hand in hand, they lived the American dream many times over. Always putting family first and welcoming anyone into our home. She kept dad’s books for his company and was always present as a wonderful mother, feeding us well of course. As the kids started having grandkids she spoiled them so much. Bettie was best known for her fabulous cooking! She loved to cook and everyone that knew her loved that about her. Many of us remember all the times she would ask…”what did you have for dinner last night?”, then “how did you make it?” She never turned down any extra mouth(s) to feed and always had enough for seconds. She and Bob were very generous taking in children and helping them out. We had many people living with us throughout our lives. They loved living in Vegas for from1999 to 2008 and then came back to Colorado to be surrounded by family. January 15th of 2010, Bettie started coughing up blood and soon thereafter diagnosed with lung cancer. She had her lung removed and we thought she would recover fully needing only chemo to get the remaining floater cells. Huge thanks to Sonny, Gloria and Teresa for helping take care of mom. Unfortunately, the cancer metastasized to her brain in March and she had the tumor removed. Never fully recovering from the brain tumor surgery she came to live with her daughter Jennifer and son-in-law Steven. With help from her sons as well as Chhon and Sophia, she tried to get better only to get blood clots in her only remaining lung, falling and breaking her wrist. Huge thank you to Pearl, Tracy and Maggie for bringing mom back to her home for a while to take care of her and give us kids a break. She had been back at Jennifer’s when she returned to the hospital for a follow up MRI. However, she was told she had a mild heart attack. She enjoyed a Mexican meal in the ER with her family and by Sunday, she was unresponsive. The doctors told us that the tumor came back with a vengeance and there was nothing more we could do to fight this terrible thing called cancer. Therefore, we honored her wishes and the entire family stayed by her side and supported her so she could be with her loving husband, Bobby again. She wanted to thank everyone for the love and support they showed her especially since dad died and with her cancer battle. She will be missed beyond words…. Please post any fond memories you have of Bettie and we will read them at the reception after the service. A committal service for Bettie will be held on Tuesday, June 1, 2010 at 10:00 AM, Fort Logan National Cemetery, Staging Area A.