Betsy B. Jueschke, 74, died March 11, 2020. She was born to Boone and Marilee Whitmer in Glendive and grew up on the prairies of Montana from Glendive to Wolf Point and places in between. She was the oldest girl in a family of nine who, by the age of four, was churning butter and making whipped cream.
Her passion for cooking began early on when her mother relied on her to care for her siblings. It didn’t take long until she earned the nickname “Oven.” These childhood cooking experiences, combined with her mother’s love and guidance, earned her the reputation as a wonderful cook.
She relocated to Albuquerque, N.M., in 1965 where she met and married a cowboy from Amistad, N.M., Wayne Jueschke. There, they had their first child, Warren, and moved to Elko, Nev., in 1971 where daughter, Rhonda, was born.
Coming from a large family, being a mother was a familiar role. She enjoyed staying home and cooking until Rhonda started school. Then her lengthy career in customer service began, first at Security Bank as a teller. She moved to insurance to work with Bill Wunderlich. She also worked at the phone company and finally landed as the cheerful face that greeted you at the front check-in desk of the Northern Nevada Regional Hospital. She was never afraid of a challenge and always said that the president could be reached in three phone calls. The phone was her friend, as she was quick to find a solution by letting her fingers do the walking.
The hours spent cooking in the kitchen were also a source of conversation and a learning opportunity. For her, food and conversation went hand in hand and that is where some of her most inspirational times with family and friends were found.
When Khoury’s Market opened, she baked pies to sell on the new counters of the store.
She was a country girl at heart and was proud to have lived in the West before it was discovered for the last time. She believed in compassion, etiquette and ethics. She said good manners and friendly hospitality never go out of style. She wrote poetry and captured life through her love of photography.
In 2005, she retired after surviving a dissecting aorta. In the medivac plane ride to Reno, Nev., she stated she was not ready to go because she still had her cookbook to finish. In January 2019, the cookbook was published.
She is survived by her husband, Wayne Jueschke of Spring Creek, Nev.; son, Warren Jueschke of Elko, Nev.; daughter, Rhonda Morfin of Spring Creek; four grandchildren; siblings, Clint Whitmer of Glendive, Patsy Hollingbery of Yakima, Wash., Mary-Ann Parks of Grass Range, Boone Whitmer of Wolf Point, Wanda Rosseland of Circle, Rita Whitmer of Minnesota; Rex Whitmer of Dillon and Barbara Whitmer of Toronto, Canada.
Services were held at Burns Funeral Home in Elko on Tuesday, March 17.
