Betty Deane
Betty Elsie Deane
passed on Sept. 20, 2015,
at home under the care of
her children and Sanford
Hospice at age 92 in
Bismarck. Per her instruc
tions, Bismarck Funeral
Home completed an im-
mediate cremation, her
ashes will be scattered as
directed, and there will be
no formal funeral service.
A memorial service: is
being planned for 1 p.m.
Oct. 3 at the White Shield
Complex.
Betty was born July 5,
1923, in New Brunswick,
N.J., to Alvah and Elsa
(Liebman) DuBois. Her
family later moved to the
Miami, Fla., area. She gra-
duated from Miami High
School in 1941, worked
for the Miami Herald, and
in 1946 moved to Califor-
nia to work for the San
Diego Union and Tribune
Sun. In 1947 she met and
married the love of her
life, Kenneth Deane, Sr.,
from Elbowoods and Six
Mile Creek on the Fort
Berthold Reservation. As
he was a career Navy Hos-
pital Corpsman, they lived
in various locations near
his base assignments or
while he was on sea duty:
New York City; Newport,
R.I.; Olathe, Kan.; Suffolk,
Va.; Key West, Fla.; Moor-
head, Minn.; Garrison;
Norway, Iowa. Upon
Kenneth’s 1964 retire-
ment, they returned to
Fort Berthold at White
Shield, where he passed
away in 1967.
Betty worked four years
at the White Shield
School District Library.
Later in life she appreciat
ed the fact that students
would approach and
thank her for assisting
with their reading and li-
brary skills. In 1969 she
continued her own edu-
cation, enrolling at the
University of Utah (Salt
Lake City), graduating
with a bachelor of arts de-
gree (1973) and a master’s
degree in manpower
management (1974). Her
father passed away in
1963, and in 1968 her
mother moved from the
east to live with her. Betty
worked for the Eastern
Wyoming Area Agency
on Aging in Douglas,
Wyo., (1978-80) and for
the County Of San Diego,
Calif., Aging Program
(1975-1978). She retired
from employment and
they moved back to Salt
Lake City, where she
cared for her mother until
her death in 1987, then
moved to her daughter
Dani’s residence, living in
Eagle Butte, S.D. Her son,
Victor, had moved from
California to join them. In
2013, with Betty being
near 90 and in the initial
stages of Alzheimer’s,
upon Dani’s BIA retire-
ment they moved to
Bismarck to be closer to
the area’s excellent medi-
cal services.
As noted, most of her
life Betty had traveled and
lived in many areas of the
country. After retirement
she continued to travel as
long as she was able, visit-
ing almost every state.
She made plane and car
trips to New York to visit
her daughter Denise’s and
son Ken Jr.’s families. She
made numerous interna-
tional trips to locations
such as Mexico, France,
Egypt, Greece, Canada,
Ireland, Turkey, the
Caribbean, the British
Isles, and other locations.
During 2014, Betty was
able to make limited trips
to White Shield and to the
State Fair. Betty was a
self-taught genealogist
who was able to trace her
family lineage to the
1500s in Europe. In addi-
tion, she traced her
relatives’ locations as they
fanned out after coming to
America. Betty was a long
time Boxing and MMA
fan.
When she developed
Alzheimer’s she was
working on her husband’s
family history. With her
late husband being a
career Navy man and her
father being a WWI Army
and WWII Navy veteran,
Betty was a Lifetime Le-
gion Auxiliary Member
and as an eligible widow
became an American As-
sociation of Navy Hospital
Corpsman member. In the
1960s she belonged to a
White Shield-area
Homemakers Club called
the “Buffalo Rock
Ramblers.” Being an only
child changed when she
came to North Dakota and
was accepted into a large
extended family as well as
by the White Shield Com-
munity. Betty cherished
her husband’s nieces and
nephews always referring
to her as “Aunt Betty,”
visiting her when possi-
ble, writing, and calling to
check on her. She was
especially close to niece
Connie Deane, who lived
with the family from time
to time. While living in
Salt Lake City, she met
Sandra Garber and they
began a lifelong friend-
ship. She “adopted” San-
dy as a sister. While living
in Salt Lake City, she also
met Ann McNaughton,
who also became a life-
long friend, whom Betty
adopted as a daughter.
Ann saved Betty’s life
after a heart attack.
She leaves behind: her
daughters, Dani Deane of
Bismarck and Denise
(Hollis) White of
Hogansburg, N.Y.; her
sons, Victor Deane and
Kenneth Deane, Jr. (Shel-
ly) of Bismarck; grandson,
Stuart (Doris) Deane of
Utica, N.Y.; grand-
daughter, Vicki Buchanan
of Las Vegas, Nev.;
great-granddaughters,
Shawna Buchanan of Wil-
domar, Calif., and Sydney
Downey of Las Vegas,
Nev.; grandson, Nathan
(Kay) Shelltrack Jr. of
Solen; brother-in-law,
Matthew Mason;
sisters-in-law, Delores
(Howard) Wilkinson and
Kathy Real Bird; adopted
sister, Sandy (Les) Garber;
and adopted daughter,
Ann (Clark) McNaughten.
She is preceded in
death by: husband, Ken-
neth Deane Sr.; parents,
Alvah and Elsa DuBois;
father and mother-in-law,
William and Leona Deane;
brothers-in-law, Gerald
Deane, Victor Deane, Al-
bert Deane, and Russell
Mason; aunt, Cecilia
Brown; sisters-in-law,
Marcella White and Marie
Wells; son-in-law, Nathan
Shelltrack Sr.; and niece
Connie Deane.
Special thanks go out
to: Dr. Ron Tello at San-
ford Medical Center, who
was her physician for
many years and helped
her through many medi-
cal crises; Sanford Home
Health and Hospice staff.
Those wishing to sign
the online register book or
leave a message of con-
dolence please go to