Betty J. Burnison, age 83, of Woonsocket, died Sunday, February 7, 2016, at Prairie View Care Center in Woonsocket. Her funeral service was held at 2:00 PM Thursday, February 11th at the Alpena Community Center at Alpena. Burial was in the Rest Haven Cemetery at Alpena.
Betty Jane Berg was born to John and Olinda (Bauer) Roth on August 29, 1932, at McClusky, North Dakota. Her mother Olinda died the next day. Betty was lovingly raised since birth by her parents, Harold and Emma (Bauer) Berg, originally from McClusky. She was the youngest of three children. The Berg family moved to Alpena, South Dakota when Betty was six weeks old. Betty grew up in Alpena and graduated from Alpena High School in 1950.
On January 26, 1952, Betty married Ralph A. Burnison of Alpena, at Olympia, Washington, while he was serving in the United States Army at Fort Lewis. After Ralph was discharged from the Army, they moved back and lived on farms south of Alpena for twenty-six years. In 1978, they bought a home in Woonsocket and then lived in Avon, Wolsey, Wessington Springs and Mitchell.
Betty was a homemaker, always raising a big garden and did a lot of canning. She worked for several years at the nursing home in Woonsocket and joined her husband, Ralph doing road construction flagging work up to her retirement in 1985. She always did a lot of Christmas holiday baking and in some later years baked over 150 dozen cookies and candies for her family.
In the Burnisons' earlier married life they were members of the Alpena United Methodist Church where all three of their children were baptized and confirmed. Betty was a 44 year member of the American Legion Auxiliary.
Betty was preceded in death by her husband, Ralph on June 9, 2013; her birth parents, John and Olinda Roth; her father and mother, Harold and Emma Berg; her step-mother, Martha Roth; two brothers, LeRoy (Darleen) Roth and Clifford Berg; one sister, Frances (Walter) Schmidt; one granddaughter, Andrea Kilcoin; and one son-in-law, Bruce Teveldal.
Grateful for having shared in her life are her two daughters, Patricia Teveldal of Fairmont, Minnesota and Linda (Mike) Kilcoin of Woonsocket; one son, David (Janice) Burnison of Huron; seven grandchildren; nine great grandchildren; one brother, Roger (Marlyn) Roth of McClusky, North Dakota; and one sister, Debbie (Randy) Davis of McClusky, North Dakota.