Bettie Johnston age 83 of Tracy passed away Wednesday, December 10, 2014 at her home. Funeral services will be at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, December 13 at the Tracy Presbyterian Church. Visitation is one hour prior to services. Burial is in the Tracy Cemetery. Memorials may be sent to the Tracy Presbyterian Church or the Wheels Across the Prairie Museum of Tracy. Online condolences may be sent at www.stephensfuneralservice.com. Stephens Funeral Service – Tracy Area Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements.

Bettie was born Bessy Obenchain on August 31, 1931 in a log cabin near Brainerd, MN. Her parents, John and Emma Obenchain, being unable to care for her and her brothers (John, Raleigh, and Robert) gave them up for adoption. Robert was adopted by neighbors and renamed Milton Strasburg. The others were taken to the Minnesota State School Orphanage in Owatonna. Bessy was adopted shortly thereafter by Gerald and Hattie (Moline) Rea of Tracy and renamed Bettie Dorothea Rea. With the Rea’s she gained not only a stable home with loving parents, but another brother (Duwayne “Razz” Rea) as well. Bettie grew up in Tracy, graduating from Tracy High School in 1949. She was an excellent student, as well as an excellent singer, which led her to join the choir at the Tracy Presbyterian Church. There she met the love of her life, Gordon Johnston. They were married in 1950 and had seven children – JoAnn, Jeanette, Alan, Steven, Philip, Paul, and Kent. In addition to being a busy mother, Bettie was a Brownie Troop leader, a Campfire Girl leader, a member of Monday Musicale, a member of the Hospital Auxiliary, a volunteer for the One-to-One program providing elderly care for Western Mental Health Center, an active member of the Presbyterian Church, and a member of the Sorosis Federated Study Club. She served in various Sorosis officer positions at local, county, and district levels, including District President in 1987-88 and local historian from 1967 onward. She also served in various offices for the Presbyterian Church, being elected an elder in 1972, appointed a member of several Presbytery committees and one synod committee, elected to be a delegate from Minnesota Valley’s Presbytery to the National Presbytery meeting in Atlanta in 1983, and elected to serve in the position of Church Treasurer, a position she held from 1998 until her death. As Bettie’s children grew older, she spent an increasing amount of time working with Gordon at the Johnston Real Estate and Travel business in Tracy and at the Tepeeotah Campground they ran at Lake Shetek. She also became a volunteer at the Wheels Across the Prairie Museum, serving as secretary for two terms and as a board member, in addition to working at the admission desk where she continued to work until 2014 when health issues slowed her down. Bettie clearly had many interests, many hobbies, and an innate desire to help other people. She always enjoyed art, music, jigsaw puzzles, and crossword puzzles, but she really loved Christmas time, especially trimming trees, arranging Christmas decorations, and packing shoe boxes with Christmas gifts for needy children. She got the shoe boxes sent off again this year, but didn’t have a chance to finish her Christmas decorating. She died from heart failure on December 10, 2014 in the midst of the season she loved.

Bettie is survived by two brothers Raleigh (Wanda) Obenchain and Milton Strasburg; sister-in-law Laurel (Robbins) Rea; brother-in-law Donald (Virginia) Johnston; five children: Jeanette Marshall of Superior, WI, Alan (Judy) Johnston of West Saint Paul, Steven (Connie) Johnston of Rochester, Philip Johnston of Minneapolis, and Kent (Julie) Johnston of Tracy; ten grandchildren: Michelle Johnston, Lance Determan, William Determan, William Johnston, Katherine Johnston, Anna Johnston, Jennifer (Johnston) Gilbertson, Matthew Johnston, Monika Sziron, and Giselle Sziron; and seven great-grandchildren: Grant, Elizabeth, Spencer, and Kent Tuominen, and Hannah, Joshua, Claire Determan; and 14 nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her parents, two brothers Duwayne Rea and John Obenchain, her husband Gordon, two children Paul and JoAnn, a nephew Neal Rea, and brother-in-law Richard Johnston.

We will miss her greatly.