Betty Bostrom

Betty Jane Bostrom passed away peacefully at Good Samaritan Society in Pine River, Minn., Thursday, Dec. 22, 2022, at age 91.

A celebration of Betty's life will be held at 2 p.m. May 28 at the Hackensack HUB Senior Center.

Born Betty Jane Rau in Oak Park, Ill., to immigrant parents Frederick August Rau and Betty Maier, she grew up in a sunny apartment over the family bakery, and her early life revolved mostly around extended family, German clubs, church and the bakery.

Betty became a telephone operator about the time her father passed away when she was 16. Her mother then met, was wooed by, and married John Swendson. John introduced the family to fishing in Walker, where Betty Jane met Jack Bostrom, her stepbrother Norman Swendson's best friend.

On Sept. 9, 1952, Jack and Betty married in a simple ceremony in Minneapolis. A year later, daughter Barbara was born. Shortly thereafter, Jack joined the U.S. Border Patrol and began a journey across the United States during which John Jr. was born in Eagle Pass, Texas. Edwin II was born in Drayton, N.D., and Betty packed up and moved more than 20 times.

Betty was preceded in death by her husband, John Keith "Jack" Bostrom; brothers Fred, Gilbert and Herman Rau; and son-in-law Steve Alan Dickey.

She is survived by daughter, Barbara and her husband Frank McLean and their children, Philip Dickey, Katherine Dickey Hass, Patrick McLean and Toni McLean; son John and his wife, Doreen Nielson and their daughter, Elizabeth; son Edwin and his daughter, Kerstien Field; six great-grandchildren; many nieces and nephews; sister-in-law Katherine Robinson; and many friends across the U.S., especially in Minnesota and Texas.

Arrangements are with Kline Funeral Home, Pine River, Minn.