Betty Eyster

1913 - 2016

Betty Eyster

Betty Eyster died quietly in her sleep Tuesday evening, April 26, 2016, in Boulder, Colorado, at age 102.

Her husband, the Rev. Dr. Walter C. Eyster, served North Hill United Methodist Church in Akron in the early 1970s.

Born Bessie Eva Adlard on August 7, 1913, in Madison, Ohio, she was the third of four daughters: Mary Louise (Woodworth) who lived in Macedonia most of her life died at age 93 in 2002; Ruth (Maclellan and Uphaus) who lived in Columbus, Ohio, and St. Petersburg, Florida, died at 98 in 2010; and youngest sister Katherine (Green -- also known as Fritzy) lived in Painesville, Ohio, and died at 61 in 1978. While their parents, Sarah Eva and Walter Winn Adlard, did not attend college, all four daughters did.

Betty married Rev. Walter C. Eyster on June 11, 1939, in the Park Methodist Church in Madison, Ohio. As a Methodist minister's wife, Betty and family moved every three to four years, living in the Ohio towns of Kent, Attica, Columbiana, Bowling Green, Marion, Columbus, Galion, Canfield, Akron, Ashtabula and Bellevue. They also lived in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and Evanston, Illinois, for Walter's special church assignments.

Betty and Walter had three sons: John of Edgerton, Wisconsin, James (Jim) of Boulder, Colorado, and Jerry of Southport, Connecticut.

When Betty and Walter retired in 1975 after more than 40 years of ministry, they lived in Alexandria, Virginia for a couple years and then moved to Clearwater, Florida in 1977. Walter died in 1991. Betty continued to live on her own until age 97. For three years she lived in an assisted living facility in Florida and at age 100, she moved to Buena Vista, Colorado, to live with a granddaughter. In 2015 she moved to an assisted living facility in Boulder, Colorado, near her son Jim.

Betty is survived by her three sons and their spouses, six grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

The family will gather in Ashland, Ohio in August for a service to inurn her remains next to Walter's.