Betty June Chaput

Betty June Richey Chaput

Dec. 4, 1923 – July 13, 2017

Born in Springer, Iowa, to Violet and Frank Richey, Betty June was an only child doted on by her parents and her Uncle Howard. She attended school in Rinard, Iowa, and grew up in the restaurant owned by her parents in nearby Somers, Iowa. During the challenging 1930s, the family moved to Georgetown, Co., where her dad worked in the mines. She returned to Rinard to graduate from high school. Immediately following graduation, she moved to Englewood to attend beauty school.

On June 13, 1942, she married Francis P. (Mike) Chaput. They built a home on South Pearl Street in Englewood in 1947 where they lived for the next 60 years. Betty lived the last 10 years of her life at the Brookdale Meridian Englewood. During World War II, she worked in a bullet factory, but most of her life was spent answering telephones and scheduling work for the family sewer cleaning and repair business and caring for her children.

Betty was a creative, artistic woman with a lot of spunk and opinions. She played the piano and organ, designed and sewed her many beautiful square dance dresses and produced an abundance of completely hand-stitched quilts for many to enjoy. She “adored her things” including sparkly jewelry, collections of special plates, antiques and silver pieces.  She and Mike spent about 30 winters in Pharr, Texas, where they loved to dance – square dance, round dance, ballroom dance – sometimes attending dance classes two or three times a day. They were fun to watch.

Betty was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Mike, her grandson, Eric Chaput, and her great-granddaughter, L.J. Toben. She is survived by her sons, Art (Beth), Jim (Martha), grandchildren Scott (Amy) Chaput, Toni (Kevin) Pohle, Jace (Doug) Toben, great-grandsons Andrew, Nicholas, Zach and Troy, plus several step-grandchildren.

Mass of Christian Burial will be at St. Louis Catholic Church on Thursday, July 27th at 10:00 a.m. with burial following at Littleton Cemetery.