Obituary: Dairy farmer Jean Betzner was ‘always community involved’

Jean Betzner had farming in her blood.

What else can you say about a woman who came from one of the oldest farming families in old Beverly Township who married into the one of the oldest farming families to work a field in old West Flamborough Township.

In addition to sharing chores with her late husband Lloyd on their dairy farm near Christies Corners on Highway 8, and at the family farm machinery business near Peters Corners, Betzner - who died May 18 at age 93 - was active in the Rockton Agricultural Society and the Rockton's World Fair.

She was also involved in the 4-H club, West Flamborough Women's Institute, Flamborough chamber of commerce and West Flamboro Presbyterian Church. She was a fair judge and judged at other fairs such as the Cambridge Fair.

To some, she may be best remembered for her parts in the popular Rockton Dinner Theatre shows, which raised money for the fair. She often had the funniest lines.

In 2010, Betzner received an Ontario Volunteer Service Award recognizing her 50 year involvement with the Rockton Agricultural Society.

Betzner's son Gary, who took over the family farm, Bayvista, in 1976 from his parents, and his sister Laurie Galer, said the family has received hundreds of messages of condolences, many from people who remember when they were young and their mother was a 4-H leader.

Betzner said when he was growing up his parents were always welcoming to his friends.

There was always lots to eat," said Betzner, whose son Jeremy is slated to run the farm one day. We'd ask if friends could stay for dinner and they would say, Oh, yeah.' It didn't matter how many there were."

Galer said her mother was always community involved" and it didn't slow her down that she didn't drive. Either her husband or one of her children drove her to meetings and such.

I got my licence when I was 16," said the Millgrove resident. As soon as I got my licence I was her chauffeur, and I was right up until the end."

She cherished it, though her mother was worried she would be a jittery" driver.

Everyone loved her," said Galer. She joked right to the end."

Betzner was born Feb. 23, 1928, to Gordon and Christine Jamieson. The Jamiesons settled in the Kirkwall area in 1833 and the farm remains in the family. The Betzners have been farming at Bayvista since 1817. Jean and Lloyd married in 1947 after meeting at a church gathering.

Betzner attended a one-room schoolhouse in the Kirkwall area and then boarded with her aunt in Galt for her high school years. She had fond memories of those days, telling The Spec in 2003 that she walked 2 1/2 miles to school by herself for a few years, until her siblings got older. She said there were about 30 kids, spread over eight grades, a wood stove and no electricity

How did we survive? We made our own fun, played baseball. The two oldest boys would be captains and choose their teams. How embarrassing to be last chosen."

After Lloyd and Jean sold Bayvista to Gary in 1976, following 28 years of farming, the couple worked at Betzner Equipment on Highway 5. She worked as what her children described as the parts lady" and helped farmers find parts for their farm machinery. The couple did that for a decade or more until Lloyd sold his share in the business.

The couple lived in Rock Chapel for more than two decades, but moved back to a home at Bayvista in 2003. It had once been lived in by Lloyd's parents.

The family marked 200 years of farming at Bayvista in 2017 with a celebration that attracted family members from as far away as Ottawa and North Bay. They held a 100th anniversary party in 1917 that was highlighted with a black-and-white family photo.

I'm so glad they want to recognize this," said Jean, as she waited for a photographer to line up a new family photo. If you look at the pictures, we have quite a bit of history to celebrate."

Betzner will be buried beside her husband in the family cemetery at the back of the farm.

Betzner is survived by her children, Connie, Gary, Laurie, Gaye and Amy, 18 grandchildren, 30 great-grandchildren and sister Marie. She was predeceased by husband Lloyd in 2004, brother Neil in 2007 and grandson Ian in 1975.

Daniel Nolan can be reached at dannolanwrites@gmail.com