It is with great sorrow that we announce the passing of our mother, grandmother, great-grandmother Betty J. Hall, at 100 years of age, on Friday, November 28, 2025, at Hospice of Northwest Ohio.
She was born on April 25, 1925, to Christine (Kelso) and Glen Bertels, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Betty graduated from Indianapolis Arsenal Technical High School in 1942 (skipping a grade). On January 1, 1943, she married the love of her life, Richard R. Hall, and shared a marital adventure that lasted more than 75 years, until his death in 2018.
They started their married life in Mishawaka, Indiana, where Rick was working for the U.S. Navy. Upon examination of their rather meager finances, Betty went out and got a job as a secretary at the local newspaper. They moved back to Indianapolis at the end of the war. She held various secretarial positions until the birth of her son and was then a stay-athome mom until moving to Lewiston, New York, in 1963. With two teenagers, one in college, she went back to work for a fundraising campaign for the Niagara Falls Memorial Hospital. At the completion of that project, she was offered the position of director of volunteers at the hospital, a job she held until 1974.
When Rick took a job in Coudersport, Pennsylvania, Betty started an antique business with her good friend, Cheryl Holman. Together they scoured the countryside (where the bear population outnumbered the people population) looking for great finds. Rick retired in 1986, and they moved to Greensboro, North Carolina, where they operated a business that specialized in paper antiques, such as books, prints and advertising. They moved to Perrysburg in 2011.
Betty lived a full life. She amazed everyone by staying active and engaged in life until the very end. Living in an independent apartment at Waterford at Levis Commons for the past seven years, she was able to not only take care of herself, but also help other people. She only used a cane when she went out. She gave up driving just last spring and only because her family worried about her falling when she was out alone. She often read three or four books a week.
She will be dearly missed by her loving family who appreciated Π
her acerbic wit, her warm and caring heart and her abundant generosity.
She is survived by her daughter, Roseanne (John) Barker of Perrysburg; daughter- in-law, Cheryl Hall of Whitsett, North Carolina; grandchildren, Nicole (Daniel) Gomez of Greensboro, North Carolina; Richard J. (Sandra) Hall of Durham, North Carolina; Christine (Jason) Bouck of Hillsborough, North Carolina, and Amanda (Scott) Graven of Perrysburg; great-grandchildren, Ariel and Joshua Gomez, Cassie and Heidi Hall, Cori Bouck, and Libby and Will Graven.
She was preceded in death by son, Richard M. Hall; grandson, Michael Hall; sister, Patricia Pardieck, and lifelong friend, Phyllis Young.
Betty hated funerals. She said that if we held one she would come back and haunt us. We believed her, so there will be no funeral. The family plans to gather at Ocean Isle, North Carolina, this summer (our family vacation site for 40 years) to spread Betty and Rick’s ashes.
Memorial contributions may be made in Betty’s name to Shriners Hospitals for Children, 3229 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45229.
The family would like to thank the staff at Waterford for their kindness and patience, and the staff at Hospice of Northwest Ohio for their loving and compassionate care in the final days of Betty’s life.