Betty Jean was born to Nellie Barrow and Cecil Boswell in Springfield, Missouri. She was one of four siblings: her brother, Billy (Cecil W.); a half-sister, Georgianne (Fry); and a half-brother, Marvin.

Upon the death of Betty's mother, she went to live with relatives, Anna M. Boswell and her daughter, Faith, on a ranch off Soldier Creek Road outside Sheridan, Wyoming. She attended school at the one-room schoolhouse on that road until graduating with county recognition for her work. The family then moved to Sheridan where she attended high school.

After Betty's graduation in 1948, Anna and her husband, Urmson Sloniger, took her to Laramie to attend the University of Wyoming, where she majored in mathematics and where she was to meet her husband of thirty-nine years, Edward F. Durkee. They had five children: Larry (Loretta, deceased), Deborah, David, Rebecca, and James (Mary).

Edward's work took the family to live in a great many places: from Wyoming, Nebraska, Arizona, Colorado, and Oklahoma, to the Philippines, Sumatra, Indonesia, Turkey, and Australia. Later, Betty and Edward traveled to, and lived again in, four of the above countries, as well as in Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, and Switzerland. In fact, traveling was a major part of family life.

In 1969 the family moved to Evergreen, Colorado, and finally to Lakewood, Colorado. Betty finished a B.A. in Accounting at Metropolitan State College of Denver and worked for many years part time in a tax accountant office.

Always an avid reader and one who kept abreast of politics and world events, she was a knowledgeable woman with flashes of an ironic wit. She was also a modest woman who took joy in the many visits of her children and in the accomplishments of her grandchildren: Meagan and Wicke (deceased) Chandler, Muhammad Durkee, and Blaise and Lindsay Lake.

Although Betty's childhood dream was to become a foreign correspondent, she nevertheless felt throughout her life that she needed to return annually to the West, and especially to Wyoming, "to renew her soul."

Betty spent her last few months in Hospice Care at the Spring Ridge Park nursing home, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. A gentle woman, devoted to her family, she was much loved and is sorely missed.

In memorium bequests may be made to Heartland Hospice, 8774 Yates Drive, Westminster, CO 80031–6906.

The Sheridan Press - Sept. 4, 2015.