Bette Strong

Bette Mae Strong, age 83, departed this life on February 16, 2014, at Heartland Care Center in Devils Lake, North Dakota.

Bette was born in Bowesmont, N.D. on August 26, 1930, to Roman and Eva (Parker) Stellon. She married Daryl M. Strong on June 11, 1953, and graduated from St. Luke's School of Nursing in Fargo, N.D. in August 1953, remaining an active Registered Nurse for 51 years, until her retirement in 2004.

Bette was the epitome of a nurse. She spent her life not seeking pleasure or profit, but treating and consoling the wounded and weary. She took joy in that. Those nursed, in turn, received the fruits of that joy - in body and spirit - which must have sustained and strengthened her joy. Bette started the school nursing program in the state of North Dakota in 1974. She was the first full time school nurse in Grafton, treating students from 1974 until 1985, when her family moved to Arizona. She then worked as the Assistant Director of Nursing at Desert Cove Nursing Home in Chandler, Ariz., from 1986 until her retirement in 2004. As if nursing were both her destiny and sustenance, Bette was in perfect physical health through the end of her nursing days, but she began to show signs of dementia soon after she ceased nursing. Then the nurse needed to be nursed. And so it was until her last day.

Always revealing the essence of a true nurse - putting the benefit of others over one's own interests - Bette was for ever helping, doing something for some other person - cooking, cleaning, washing - even when she was nursing. She also found joy in other endeavors: she was an avid bridge player throughout her life, couldn't pass up a crossword puzzle, composed poetry, and had an incredible green thumb; her gardens were always beautiful and well-tended. She enjoyed nothing more, however, than being a wife and mother, for which her husband and children are profoundly grateful.

She is survived by Daryl, her husband of 60 years and her four children: Jaryl (Toni) Strong of Houston, Texas, Chryl (Guy) DeSautel of Devils Lake, Roma (Paul) Zanders of Snohomish, Wash., Caroline (Aaron) Clark of Snohomish, Wash.: four granddaughters, Nichole and Bethany DeSautel of Fargo, N.D., and Meridia and Natalie Clark of Snohomish, Wash. Of Bette's eleven siblings, she is survived by Charles Stellon of Drayton, N.D., Helen Schumacher of Franklin, Tenn., and Shirley Kotchman of Seminole, Fla.

She is preceded in death by her parents and brothers, Matthew, Raymond, and Kenneth Stellon, and sisters, Marie Stellon, Rosanna Dunklee, Catherine Hirschfeldt, Bernice Thomson, and Norma Herzog.

Visitation will be at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Devils Lake, N.D., on Thursday February 20, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., with a Rosary and Vigil Service at 7:00 p.m. Mass of Christian Burial will be held at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Devils Lake, N.D., on Friday, February 21 at 10:00 a.m., with a reception to follow. Burial will take place at the Grafton City Cemetery in the spring.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to St. Joseph Catholic Church in Devils Lake.