Elizabeth C. Laetz

Elizabeth C. Laetz, 82, of St. Joseph passed away Saturday, March 16, 2002, at Lakeland Hospital, St. Joseph, following a brief illness. Visitation will be held from 6 to 8 pm Friday, March 22, at Starks & Menchinger Family Funeral Home, 2650 Niles Road, St. Joseph. A service will take place at 11 am on Saturday, March 23, at the Margaret Upton Chapel of the First Congregational Church, St. Joseph. Memorials may be sent to the First Congregational Church Elizabeth ?Betty? Laetz was born Nov. 20, 1919, in Buchanan, the daughter of Leland and Beatrice Walker. She graduated from Niles High School and attended Kalamazoo College. On May 31, 1941, she married Walter B. Laetz of St. Joseph. Betty was superintendent of the Sunday School, volunteered for the Benton Harbor Soup Kitchen, and served on various committees at the First Congregational Church. She served on the PTA at Jefferson school and was an officer of The Little League. She worked as a bookkeeper for John Paul Taylor, Imperial Printing, and for Herkner, Smits, Miskill, and Merrifield. Betty found great satisfaction in her family, in her church, in gardening, in knitting, and in the Detroit Tigers. She had been a resident of The Whitcomb since 1995. Betty is survived by her sisters ? Joan Russell of Albuquerque, N.M., and Charlotte Cloft of Klamath Fall, Ore., and her brothers ? Charles Walker of Woodstock, Va., and John Walker of Grand Rapids; by one daughter, Marion Huyck of Chicago; a son, Curtis (Linda) of Shorewood, Wis., a son, David (Karen) of St. Joseph; five grandchildren ? Matthew, David and Edward Huyck, Sarah Mahon, and Benjamin Laetz; a great-granddaughter, Hope Mahon; and by 15 nieces and nephews. Mrs. Laetz was preceded in death by her sister, Marion Walker; granddaughter Eleanor Laetz; and her husband Walter.