John Betts

Funeral Services were held 2:00 P.M., Saturday, December 21, 1985 at Higby Mortuary. Interment was held in the Aurora Cemetery.

OBITUARY: John Betts

John Reilly Betts, the son of John Wesley and Phoebe (Reilly) Betts, was born at Shellrock, Iowa, on January 3, 1888, and passed away at Aurora, Nebraska, on December 19, 1985, at the age of 97 years, 11 months and 16 days.

He lived in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, until the early 1900’s and graduated from Lake Geneva High School in 1906.

Later he moved to Kearney, Nebraska, where he operated the city electric plant for 11 years. He built and operated power plants in several Nebraska towns in the 1900’s.

On October 29, 1910, he was united in marriage to Edith Short at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. She preceded him in death in 1962.

He pioneered natural gas line laying in this part of Nebraska, and operated pipe laying machinery and did much of the actual hooking up of town to the natural gas lines which now serve these towns.

John was one of the pioneer irrigation well drillers in Hamilton County, drilling 3 irrigation wells, south of Aurora, for Hamilton County Farms Company, a seed corn company, which was owned by Mayo Brothers at the time. He was also in charge of maintenance of the seed corn plant machinery in the 1940’s.

In the later years he had farmed and worked in the filling station before retiring to Aurora in 1964.

On July 9, 1964, he married Aleen (Billie) (Davidson) Hageman at Ericson, Nebraska.

John was a member of the Presbyterian United Church of Christ in Aurora.

He was preceded in death by his parents, 1st wife and one infant son.

He is survived by his wife Aleen (Billie); a step-son Carl Thomas Hageman of Dodge City, Kansas; a daughter, Beverly Edmiston of Richardson, Texas; 2 step-daughters, Ardith Reichardt of Hampton and Jackie Bowers of Hordville; a half-brother of California; 3 grandsons, 10 step-grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.