Betty Lee ‘Nygard’ Hart
Betty Lee (Nygard) Hart, passed away peacefully Sept. 16, at the Gunnison Senior Care Center, with family close by. She had celebrated her 95th birthday on Aug. 25, surrounded by family and friends. Betty was born in 1922 at her grandma’s house near Orofino, Idaho, to Edna and Lubin Nygard. She grew up in Orofino with her siblings, Phyllis (Haywood) and Pete, many cousins, aunts and uncles, and her grandparents. Their family was very close, and Betty had many fond memories of time spent together. She loved to tell stories of swimming in the Clearwater River and playing on the sandy beaches. She enjoyed telling of helping during harvest time at her aunt and uncle’s. She often reminisced about what wonderful cooks her mom, aunts, and grandma were, and how they used ingredients they had grown and raised themselves. Everything was fresh off the farm. She said nothing compared to the food they prepared. In 1944, Betty set out on her own to work at Fort George Wright in Spokane, Wash. In April of that year, a friend introduced her to Paul Hart, a dashing young Army Air Corps soldier who had just returned from overseas. They hit it off right away, and when Paul was transferred to Louisiana a few months later, he did not want to leave her behind, so they married on July 28, 1944 and their adventure began. They shared a happy 72 years together. Betty and Paul moved to Gunnison in 1954. They had been living in Medicine Lodge, Kansas and were on their way to Orofino, Idaho. They stopped in Gunnison to help Paul’s father with a construction project, and decided to stay. Betty was a “stay at home mom” with their three children: Jimmy, Ted and Deanne, until 1972 when she went to work for the City of Gunnison. She worked in the Finance Department providing customer service until she retired in 1991. Betty enjoyed homemaking, especially sewing, canning, baking, and gardening. She gave her mom credit for her love of those things. She enjoyed camping and “going to the hills.” She loved to tell of waiting for Paul to get home from work on Friday evenings, so they could load up the kids, camping gear, fried chicken, potato salad, and whatever else she could put together into the jeep, and off they’d go. There are many happy memories built around those camping trips and family time together. Betty was a very loving and much loved wife, mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister-in-law, and aunt. She is survived by her children, Jimmy Hart (Beverly) of Montrose, Colo.; Ted Hart (Angie) of Gunnison, Colo.: and Deanne Groom (Scott) of Arvada, Colo.; grandchildren Heather Clamp (Larry); Phillip Hart ; Melissa Hart; Lindsay Hart ; Christopher Schumaker, and David Schumaker, ten greatgrandchildren, as well as many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband, Paul, her parents, her sister, Phyllis Haywood, brother “Pete” Nygard, greatgrandson Trae Schumaker, and nephew Steve Nygard. The memorial will be held Sept. 30, 2017, at 1 p.m. at the First Baptist Church in Gunnison. Interment will follow at the Gunnison Cemetery.
