Betty Fairclough

Betty Joanne Blankenship Fairclough September 16, 1929 - Octpber 5, 2009 Resident of Walnut Creek Betty Joanne Blankenship Fairclough, loving wife of Richard Hartley Fairclough and loving mother of four daughters, passed away peacefully at Kaiser Hospital, Walnut Creek, on Oct. 5, 2009. Private family services were held on Oct. 13, 2009. Betty was a native Californian, growing up in Lafayette with her sister Marjorie. Her parents were longtime Lafayette residents, Merle Selme and Evelyn Mae Hartwell Blankenship. It was at Acalanes High School, from which she graduated early, that she found her passion, coming to love modern dance under the tutelage of Millicent Hamburger. Millicent inspired her with many life lessons and among her favorites was "Your reach must exceed your grasp, else what's a heaven for?" She continued her study of body movement, physical education, and dance at U.C. Berkeley, from where she graduated early with a B.A. degree in Physical Education. It was at Mt. Diablo High School, while teaching P.E. and modern dance, that she met her loving husband, math teacher and head football and track coach, Hart Fairclough. Their first date was the CAL/Stanford big game in November 1952. They got married on April 10th, 1954 and went on to raise four daughters on the side of Mt. Diablo in Walnut Creek. They called their Shangri-la "Fairacre." Betty enjoyed being a devoted wife (better known to the family as a "domestic engineer") to a very busy Mt. Diablo High School head coach and later on DVAL Commissioner. She managed this all while raising her four daughters, which included the usual tasks along with caring for chickens, ducks, cats, 4-H lambs, horses and more. Imagine the loads of laundry! All her life she was giving, forever positive, and quick to smile with a twinkle in her eye. After raising her family, she resumed modern dancing locally and also started to pursue creative writing, in conjunction with nonfiction writing, subsequently publishing several articles on her traveling adventures. She and Hart enjoyed their retirement years traveling abroad and making U.S. road trips in their van "RoamInn." They celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary this year and Betty recently celebrated her 80th birthday with her family. She is survived by her loving husband Hart; her sister Marjorie Bates; children Ann Fairclough of La Canada Flintridge, Kathryn Fairclough of Martinez, Susan Fairclough of Lafayette, and Carolyn Thibault of Hope, ID; along with two grandchildren Steven Thibault of Missoula, MT, and David Thibault of Hope, ID. A "Celebration of Betty's Life" reception will be held at 2:00pm on Friday, November 13th 2009, at the Pleasant Hill Recreation Center, 320 Civic Drive in Pleasant Hill in the "Parkside" room. Betty was a supporter of many women's issues/groups, thus a donation (in lieu of flowers) can be made to a women's group or cause of your choice in her memory. She would have liked that very much!