Betty Kay Hulsebus

Betty Kay (Hacklander) Hulsebus passed away peacefully on Sunday July 30, 2023 at Abbott Hospital in Minneapolis. A memorial service will be held at 11AM on Saturday, August 26, 2023 at Hope United Methodist Church. A time for visitation will be held from 5-7PM at Patton Funeral Home on Friday and one hour prior to the service at church. Private family burial will take place at Riverside Cemetery in Blue Earth.

On December 22, 1930, Betty Kay was born in Blue Earth to Waldo and Lila Hacklander. Being raised on a farm, Betty Kay enjoyed and was active in 4-H Club. She attended country school until she was a 4^th grader and then went to Blue Earth for the remaining years. She graduated from high school in 1948. After graduating, she attended Westmar College in LeMars, IA and received a two-year degree in elementary education in 1950. In college, she met the love of her life, Harvey H. Hulsebus of Defiance, IA and married him on June 9, 1951 at Salem United Methodist Church in Blue Earth. Her first teaching job was as a 2^nd grade teacher in Armstrong, IA. After Betty and Harvey were married, they moved to Schleswig, IA where she taught fourth and fifth grade and sixth and seventh grade. In 1954 they moved to Elmore. Betty Kay received her 4-year degree in education in 1962, taking classes day and night at Mankato State University. In 1967 she started teaching at East Chain school where she taught fourth grade until she retired in 1988.

Betty Kay was active in their church, teaching Release Time and Sunday School and was also involved in the women’s organizations. She was a member of the Eastern Star and served as president and received her 50-year pin, she also helped out with Job’s Daughters, who are Masonic affiliated. She was also active in Church Women United, KJLY, Elmore Study Club and other groups in the county. She was a great seamstress and sewed many dresses for her two daughters, including wedding dresses, bridesmaids’ dresses for two weddings and even cheerleading uniforms. Betty Kay loved to quilt and made a quilt for each of her seven grandchildren. Betty and Harvey enjoyed traveling in the United States and overseas, but their cabin in Northern Minnesota was where they loved to gather in the summertime with family and relatives.

Survivors include her three children, Cynthia (Mark) Northwick, Larry (Lori) Hulsebus and Sharlene (Todd) Stindtman. Seven grandchildren Martha, Nathan, Stacie, Julia, Tyler, Aaron and Kayla. Six great-grandchildren Willa Jane, Everest Kent, Adeline Kay, Jameson August, Jayda Charlotte, Callahan Warren, and two more great-grandsons on the way. Her sister Gail (Donald) Nuessmeier, sister-in-law Norma Bechtel and many nieces and nephews.

She is preceded in death by her husband Harvey in 1995, one brother Darrel Hacklander, three sisters-in-law and her parents.

Betty was passionate about children all her life, and she would prefer any memorial donations to be made to anything dealing with children or children’s education, at the donor’s discretion. She also had a love for red flowers.