Betty Godbe Walker

BETTY GODBE WALKER

A Most Amazing Woman

Our beloved Mother, Grandmother and Great Grandmother, Betty Godbe Walker (Mommer), 97 years old, passed away peacefully at Silverado Senior Living with her daughter, granddaughter, and her cat Baby by her side.

Betty was born in Salt Lake City, Utah on April 19, 1916 to Anthony H. and Ruby Clawson Godbe. She was the baby in a family of five children.  Anthony owned a bank in Salt Lake City and a silver mine in Park City.  Betty had a nanny and all the luxuries of the wealthy for her first few years of life.  When she was about five years old someone sabotaged and flooded the mine.  Anthony honorably paid back all the investors with his own money from the bank, and Betty’s family became poverty stricken at once. They lost everything.  Her mother, who previously had her own servants, became a maid for another family.

They had to move in with relatives, and for a time stayed with family in Long Beach, California.  As a young girl Betty loved to walk to the movie theaters and escape in the stories of the films.  She and her niece, Marilyn (McCleery Landon), would spend hours and hours together during this time.  They developed a strong bond and became “sisters” for life.

When the family returned to Salt Lake, Betty attended East High School and graduated with honors. She was brilliant; a lifelong learner and adamant reader (in fact she read two entire newspapers every day to compare the coverage).  She was offered a scholarship to the University of Utah, but it was necessary for her to get a job instead to help support her family.  She always regretted not attending college. 

She worked for the Utah State Tax Commission and walked up and down the stairs from her home to the Capitol Building and back each day for many years.  She had beautiful legs as a result of this daily workout.  When she arrived home her dog “Mitzi” was always there to greet her.  She worked in the Biology Department at the University of Utah where she designed the accounting system and worked for 25 years until the age of 71.  She was a dedicated and loyal employee.  They were lucky to have her!

She married Alva Eldredge Walker on August 21, 1941.  They had two children:  Carole Walker Olsen Drecksel and Richard Gary Walker who were her pride and joy. 

Betty was a spiritual entity, and was gifted in being able to “sense” the future and understand the past.  She had enormous positive energy throughout her life which helped her survive the many trials that she had to face.  She taught us all that we can survive anything by her example in how she handled the hardships including her hearing loss and the loss of her son to leukemia at the age of 26.

Betty became nerve-deaf at about five years old.  She learned to lip read.  She considered her deafness to be an undeserved obstacle in her life.  Eventually she was fitted with hearing aids, but she would comment that “being deaf is like being invisible to others.”  Had she been able to hear, she would have accomplished even greater things than she already did.

She was a master seamstress! To supplement her income, she sewed clothes for the “Story Princess” dolls that were sold in the department stores. She also made ornate wedding dresses for her friends and beautiful outfits for her children.  She would take Carole to the fancy stores to try on designer clothing, then make her own pattern, and create an exact copy.  (She had a spoiled daughter here!)  She also made clothes for her son Gary (he was not that excited), and a wool suit for her husband.

She mastered everything she attempted.  She was an accomplished writer.  She wrote children’s stories, clever short stories, and published science research papers.  She won several contests based on the merits of her excellent writing.  She won money, a camera, a new car, a trip to Disneyland for the family, and many other tokens of recognition and honor.  She even named the old Salt Palace in Salt Lake City.  Her family is indebted to her for all the help and training she gave them with their writing homework as well!

She would take on a new endeavor every few years and stay with it until it was perfected.  She made dollhouses that were perfectly scaled and made much of the furniture within.  She would research every aspect to be sure everything was appropriate to the time period.  Among the masterpieces she made and designed was a 3-story dollhouse, a schoolhouse, a Chinese restaurant, and a general store. She even had dollar bills scaled to size for the restaurant. 

Betty’s other pleasures and interests were being with family, playing games, Sunday movies, dinners out, great books, long rides in the car, Christmas and birthdays, finances, history, funny jokes, having a good laugh, ice cream, and her dog Tucker.  She kept a daily journal for most of her life.  She loved to travel, and went to Hawaii, Alaska, Austria, England, Italy, France, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Monaco, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Canada, Mexico and many places in the USA with her family. 

She is survived by her daughter Carole (Cal) Drecksel; her grandson Chris (Ella) Olsen; her granddaughter Adrienne Olsen (Dave) Murray, and her five great grandchildren:  Nick, Belle, and Jon Olsen, Quinn and Madilyn Murray.

Betty is now taking another adventure to a much better place and leaving her battle with Alzheimer’s behind.  She has already been welcomed by her son Gary, her mother and father, her brother Hampton Godbe, her sisters Virginia McCleery and Margaret Warnock, her husband Eldredge Walker, and her brother Laurie Godbe.

The Family wishes to thank Silverado Hospice and the Silverado Senior Living staff for the loving care Betty received while residing with them.

A celebration of Betty’s life will be held on Friday, June 21st from 6 to 8pm at Starks Funeral Parlor, 3651 South 900 East, Salt Lake City.  Graveside Services will be held on Saturday, June 22nd at 10:30am at Salt Lake City Cemetery, 200 “N” Street, Salt Lake City.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that contributions to the American Cancer Society (www.cancer.org) or the Alzheimer's Association (www.alz.org) in Betty's memory would please her.