Andrew Leo Bettwy

ANDREW LEO BETTWY May 31, 1920 - December 1, 2004 Andrew Leo Bettwy, son of Mary Chenoweth Bettwy (Santa Cruz County Recorder for 34 years) and Andrew Jackson Bettwy (Mayor of Nogales and State Senator), was born and raised on the Pete Kitchen Ranch in Nogales, Arizona, attended college and law school in Tucson, and settled in Phoenix. Andy is survived by his three children, Andy of Las Vegas, Sam of San Diego and Maria of Phoenix, his brother William of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and his four grandsons, Andy, Bix, Shea and Bryce. Against his mother's insistence that he stay in Nogales to work on the family ranch after his graduation from Nogales High School in 1938, Andy joined the Army. He attended the U.S. West Point Preparatory School at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and received a four-year military scholarship to the University of Arizona. In his senior year, he met his wife-to-be, Janice Kathryn Kennerly. His education was interrupted by the war in Europe where he served as an armored car commander in a reconnaissance squadron during the push from Calais to Berchtesgarten, earning two battle stars and a Purple Heart. Andy participated in the liberation of the German concentration camp at Lansberg, and during the final three days of the war in Europe, was officially "traded" to the German SS Nibelungen Division as liaison officer to effect orderly surrenders. He was dispatched to the Pacific Theater, but Japan surrendered when he was en route. Andy then completed college and law school on the G.I. Bill and got his start with the Phoenix law firm of Page & Company, which specialized in public lands. Andy did not particularly enjoy the practice of law, but he loved Arizona and knew its history and every inch of its territory, having traveled it many times over with his father. On vacations with his own family, Andy could not resist detours along old highways and backroads, often unmaintained and treacherous. Sometimes it seemed to his children that they were riding on no road at all. Because of Andy's widely-recognized expertise and knowledge of Arizona's public lands and because of Andy's reputation for integrity and impartiality, Governor Jack Williams appointed him State Land Commissioner in 1970 to become the steward of Arizona's trust lands. Although the position was a political appointment, Andy served for the next nine years under four governors (Jack Williams, Raul Castro, Wesley Bolin and Bruce Babbitt). Andy brought new directions and philosophies to the management of Arizona's trust lands, all designed to assure maximum benefit to the primary beneficiaries of the trust, the public schools. He was keenly aware of the value of every acre of the land that he managed. In spite of constant pressure to sell the trust lands, Andy stood firm by his view that the beneficiaries of the trust were best served by holding on to the land, because it is an appreciating asset, and maximizing its income. Andy and his love for family, friends and Arizona lives on in his three children, all of whom are practicing attorneys. Andy tried to steer them toward other occupations, but they admired him too much not to emulate him. They would be pleased to have family and friends join them at their parents' home on Sunday, January 2, 2005 (1:00 pm to 4:00 pm).

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