Betty Jane Rogers transitioned from her earthly home on March 27, 2020.

Born to Melvin and Gladys Woodcock on April 13, 1923 in Olsburg, Kansas, where she spent her early years, at the age of 4 her family moved to a homestead in Fort Laramie. Wyoming. She graduated from Lingle High School, Wyoming, where she was active in the Marching Band. During the Second World War she held many jobs, such as pumping gas and office assistance. She met Dan Rogers at a USO dance in Casper, Wyoming and married after a whirlwind romance of just six weeks before Dan, an airman, was sent overseas.

At the end of the war Betty and her sister drove a beat up old car from Wyoming to Arcata to rejoin Dan and his large family of dairy farmers on the Arcata Bottoms. Betty raised three children. She was active in the PTA and Campfire Girls. She was a great cook, learning from her mother-in-law, Mary, how to prepare all the Portuguese dishes that her family still loves today. She was a great seamstress, making clothes for her daughter and granddaughters. She even made blazers for her sons’ dance skating group in the ‘70s.

She always had a large vegetable garden and preserved vegetables, made pickles and jam from the berries she loved to pick. Her grandchildren remember summer days spent picking berries all over the farm lands of Arcata. After her children got older she went to work for Montgomery Ward, until she retired in 1985. In retirement, she and Dan enjoyed camping, bike riding and long walks. They spent many an hour chopping firewood in the forests around Humboldt and Trinity counties.They enjoyed their grandchildren and always had a large Christmas celebration at their home in Arcata.

Betty spent her last years living with her son in Fortuna under his and his wife Roxana’s loving care. Betty loved word puzzles, SF Giants baseball and her great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband of 56 years Dan, her son Tom, sisters Dee Smith, Donna Chaney, and Mary Woodcock. She is survived by her brother Jack Woodcock (Bev) of Casper, WY, her children and spouses Susan and Joe Collins of Fort Bragg, Steve and Roxana Rogers of Fortuna, Tom’s widow Margie Bonhote of Eureka, her grandchildren, Teresa Abbott of Boise Idaho, Victor Rogers, Washington, Cyndi Barclay, Fort Bragg, Dan Rogers WA, Kristina Argueta, Citrus Heights, Charla Rogers Merz, Eureka, Stephanie Van Donge, Washington, Travis Rogers, Fortuna, Jaymi Lucerno, Eureka, 12 great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews. Betty will be interred in the Catholic Cemetery in Arcata, near her husband and son. A Memorial Service to properly celebrate Betty’s life will be held at an indefinite time in the future when it is safe for all of us to gather.

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