Betty Rosenberger

1920 - 2013

Betty Rosenberger was born September 24,1920 in White Bear Lake Minnesota. She peacefully passed away at the Juneau Pioneers Home on October 5, 2013 with her family by her side. She was a young woman when World War II broke out, and traveled to San Diego finding work at Consolidated Aircraft building B-24 Liberator bombers. There she met Smokey, the love of her life, dancing in the streets at a fiesta in Tijuana. After the war was over they started dating and decided to make a life for themselves together.
Looking for opportunity, Smokey traveled to Alaska and found work in Juneau. He called Betty to tell her he had bought a little house on the side of a mountain, and she shouldn't wait for spring but to come up to Juneau right away. So, with Christmas approaching she embarked on a Princess Line steamship for the trip up the inside passage. Upon her arrival, Smokey and Betty were married at the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and moved into their house on Basin Road. While Smokey worked hard at the grocery store, Betty found work at the bakery in town owned by the Messerschmitt family. With the arrival of their first child Karen, Betty left her job for the hard work of raising her family at home. Brothers and sisters Jim, Gary, Laura, Herman, and Mary followed, and Betty coped with the trials and tribulations of raising a young family in Juneau. Fingers nearly chopped off, bad bites by big dogs, and tangling with cars while sledding down Gold Street made everyone quite thankful that St Ann's Hospital was just down the hill on Sixth Street.
Betty loved hiking, picnics, fishing, and spending time with her family at their Tee Harbor cabin. After retiring from the grocery business, Smokey and Betty split their time between a condo in San Diego and their home in Tee harbor. They traveled the world and enjoyed their growing family, which now includes seven grandchildren and nine great grandchildren. For over twenty years Betty volunteered with the Juneau Convention and Visitors Bureau, offering information and advice to the stream of tourists at the cruise ship docks downtown, and she was active in the Catholic Daughters of America. When her children expanded Foodland Center and built a spacious apartment on the top of the new addition, Betty and Smoky moved to town to be closer to their family and enjoyed the best waterfront view in downtown Juneau.
Betty was a very classy lady in her looks, her actions, and her bearing. She always accepted people for who they were, was always sweet and kind, and everyone that knew her called her an angel. Betty loved to read, and had a keen sense of humor, loving to laugh while delighting everyone around with her dry witticisms. She loved to travel, both with her husband as well as with her daughters. On a river cruise in China she was the envy of all the passengers with her three daughters attending to her. She was always there for her children with love, support, and prayers (which they often needed!). Betty loved the life she and Smokey had built for themselves, but mostly she loved her family and was beloved by them.
Betty's funeral was held on September 28, and her ashes were interred with her husbands at the Shrine of St Therese. Donations in her honor may be made to Juneau Hospice and Homecare.