Elizabeth F. M. (Betty) Deinken

DEINKEN—Elizabeth F. M. (Betty) Deinken, 93, died in Albuquerque on June 21, 2013, with family by her side. She was born the daughter of John MacWilliams and Anna Fonda Gribble at Fort Bliss, TX, and lived in a variety of Army posts in the U.S. and overseas where her father was assigned as an Army chaplain. She began her higher education at the Schreiner Institute in Kerrville, TX, subsequently attended the University of Hawaii in Honolulu, and graduated in 1941 from Huntingdon College in Alabama, with a major in English and a minor in Spanish. After earning her degree she worked as an organist and high school youth director at First Presbyterian Church of Lubbock, TX. Betty married Army Lt. Garland A. Sadler in late 1943. In early 1944, he shipped out with his unit to the European theater. Tragically, he was killed in action in France and never returned home. Following the war, Betty reconnected with Capt. Herman P. Deinken whom she had met in a young adult group at the church in Lubbock. They married in 1946 and, after two children, moved to Austin, TX. There Herman pursued a Ph.D. in physics and Betty typed and edited his Master’s and doctoral theses, and began raising their children—soon a brood of five—in married student housing. When Herman joined the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory in 1956, Betty and Herman bought a station wagon and moved the family to New Mexico’s Jemez mountains where they enjoyed not only the beautiful scenery but a rich outdoor as well as community life, for nearly forty years. Betty was an avid reader, with wide ranging interests including history, literature, religion, and science, and was a great hand at crafts and needlework. Along with feeding and clothing her five children, she read and sang and introduced them to her interests in art, music, and an appreciation of travel and other cultures. Blessed with a gentle sense of humor and a knack for committing verse to memory, Betty had a quip, a song, a proverb, or a rhyme for every occasion. To her grandchildren, who knew her as Betsy, she was an artist, a baker, a hugger, and a master storyteller who had lived to see and remember great changes in the world around her. Her handiwork, her jokes, and her memory endure. Betty and Herman opened a new chapter when they joined the La Vida Llena lifecare community in 1994. They continued to travel near and far but gradually settled in to a very comfortable retirement. Her beloved husband of 63 years preceded her in death in 2009. Betty is survived by her five children and their spouses: John and Noelle Deinken (Mammoth Lakes, CA), Anna and Beau Lucas (Dallas, TX), Jane Deinken (College Station, TX), Peter and Dulce Deinken (Dallas, TX), Margaret and Curtis Nickel (Fresno, CA). She felt very proud of, and blessed by, her ten grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Betty was also deeply grateful for gracious and loving care provided by Sheila Lynn and Cecilia Baldwin, the nurses and aides and wonderful staff at LVL, and, especially her 4-footed friend, Andy. A memorial service will be held August 2nd at the Sandia Presbyterian Church in Albuquerque, followed by commitment at the Santa Fe National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial donations be made to La Vida Llena (note in memo: The Full Life Foundation), 10501 Lagrima de Oro NE, Albuquerque, NM, 87111.