Jahn, Betty Merle

Betty Merle Jahn - age: 90
(March 09, 1924 to February 25, 2015 )
Resident of Ukiah, California

Obituary:
Betty Merle Jahn (nee Wallace) was born on March 9, 1924 in Oakland, California. Her mother was Viva Gard, a spirited girl from a good Lake County family. Father was Bob Wallace, an itinerant brick layer from Baltimore. Betty spent her early childhood in Oakland and Ukiah, where her mother went nuts, and she and her sister Joan ended up in an Oakland orphanage. The girls were eventually rescued by a loving German-American couple name Ruby and Ernst Detmer. Nobody knows what the hell Wallace was doing. Betty became a perfect Lutheran, graduated high school with high marks, and spent the war years working for Wells Fargo in San Francisco. During that time, she met and became engaged to Walter Jahn, an imperfect Lutheran from Illinois. Walt, a Seabee in WWII, married Betty on November 11, 1945. First settling in Elgin, Illinois, then moving to the Bay Area, the couple ended up living for more than four decades near Lakeport, California. Betty was a fun, loving, conscientious woman, active in the Lakeport community. She was an accomplished quilter, terrible card player, reluctant farmer, and spouter of goofy sayings. She was consumed for the last twelve years by an advancing dementia. Betty died February 25, 2015, at Ukiah Post Acute, where she’d received good care. Her husband, sister and son Ken died before her. Betty is survived by her children Carly and Gene Stewart, Andy Jahn and Virginia Macintosh, Zeke and Kris Jahn, Lois and Doug Dilley, as well as six nieces, one nephew, eleven grandchildren and a still-growing number of greats. Services will be held at 11:00 on April 11 at Redwood Valley Community Church, 951 East School Way in Redwood Valley. Donations may be made to Alzheimer’s research or a charity of your choice. Eversole Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.