Betty C. Testerman, age 90, of Huron, died Saturday, January 23, 2016, at the Huron Regional Medical Center. Her funeral service was held at 11 AM Saturday January 30th at Riverview United Methodist Church. Burial was in Restlawn Memory Gardens Cemetery. Memorials may be directed to the Yelduz Shrine Hospital Transportation Fund, HRMC Hospice, Huron Salvation Army or the Dakota Conference Commission on Archives and History.
Betty Clarice Painter was born August 1, 1925, to Clarence and Lillian (Barney) Painter at Hutchinson, Kansas. She moved with her family to California in 1930, and received her education in the Los Angeles School System.
On August 15, 1953, Betty married Wayne Dalton Testerman at Los Angeles. They returned to his family farm south of Wessington in 1954. They moved to Huron in 1961, and lived there until her death. Retirement years were spent traveling through the fifty states of the United States of America, Canada and Mexico, and later winters in Los Fresnos, Texas.
While in California, Betty worked as a secretary for the Los Angeles Transit Lines and Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. She was a member of the Garvanza Methodist Church and served as a Sunday School teacher. She was also a member of the Westchester Methodist Church and served there as a Sunday School teacher, also. In Huron, she was a secretary in the general offices of Northwestern Public Service Company.
Betty was an active member of the communities in which she lived and also her church. She was a member of the former National Secretaries Association and past president of the Fair Ladies Chapter and Nebraska/South Dakota Division of NSA. She served on the South Dakota Mental Health Association Board and was past president of the Beadle County Mental Health Association. Betty served on the Huron City Safety Council and was past president of the Huron United Way Board. She was a life member of the Huron Area Senior Center and National Association of Active and Retired Federal Employees, and was vice president and secretary of the Pheasant Chapter #0899. She served as District III Representative for the South Dakota Federation of NARFE.
She was a member of Vespers Chapter #81 O.E.S. in Wessington Springs and member of the Yelduz Shrine Auxiliary. Betty was a long-time member of the Farmers Union and Democrat Party. She was a former member of the Artisan and Maccabee Lodges and past Noble grand of the Rebekkah Lodge in California.
Betty was a current member of the Riverview United Methodist Church where she had served on many committees and was the secretary of the Administrative Council. She was active on the Dakotas United Methodist Conference Archives and History Commission, and North Central Jurisdiction Commission on Archives and History and Historical Society of the United Methodist Church. She was an affiliate member of the Los Fresnos United Methodist Church and served on the trustees committee.
She was preceded in death by her parents.
Grateful for having shared her life are her husband, Wayne of Huron; one step-son, David Testerman of Portland, Oregon; and three step-grandchildren, Janelle (Brandon) Nolan and their daughter, Mazie Ann Nolan of Los Angeles, California, Keith Testerman of Portland, Oregon, and Doree (James) Cambas and their son, Miles Cambas of Los Angeles, California.