Betty Jane Needham

Betty Jane Needham, age 95, passed away on May 9, 2011 at Peabody Manor in Appleton. She was born October 22, 1915, in Cleveland, Ohio, daughter of the late Walter R. and Sarah (Laube) Van Luit. She graduated from Mayfield, Ohio High School in 1933 and was employed as a secretary with Strong, Carlisle, and Hammond, a Cleveland manufacturing firm. She married Raymond Lee Needham on September 4, 1937 at The Old Stone Presbyterian Church in downtown Cleveland. They lived in Lakewood, Ohio, where she provided for her family as a homemaker until Betty and Ray retired to Vass (Woodlake) North Carolina. They were warmly embraced into their new community and together shared many happy occasions with friends and family until Ray's death in 1986, after forty-nine years of marriage. She loved to sing, dance, sew, play bridge, golf, and travel. Betty was also a member of the Cypress Presbyterian Church of Cameron, North Carolina, and its Women's Circle. She was a member of the League of Women Voters, Vass Democratic Women, and an election poll worker. After living a few years in Seminole, Florida, she moved to Appleton to be closer to her family.

Betty is survived by two sons: Todd (Ellen) Needham of Appleton and Gregory (Kathy) Needham of Watervliet, New York; three grandchildren: Andrew (Kim Darga) Needham of New York City, Shawn (Valery Krieg) Needham of Boulder, Colorado, and Adiene (Dominic) Wade of Albany, New York; three great-grandchildren: Joseph “Jack” Needham and Raymond Needham of New York City, and Paetyn Wade of Albany; a sister: Coralie (George) Sabanos of Mount Vernon, Ohio; two nephews, and a niece. Betty was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Ray, a sister Jean (Harold) Tedrick, and a brother Walter (Lee) Van Luit, Jr.

A private family memorial service and burial will be held at a later date at Cypress Presbyterian Church in Cameron, North Carolina.

The family extends their gratitude to Dr. Jack Anderson for his care and compassion, and to Hilde Maas for her friendship with Betty. They offer special thanks to the loving care and attention Betty received from the entire staff at Birch Cottage at Peabody Manor for the past three years. They provided her with a genuine feeling of “being at home.”

Wichmann Funeral Home
537 N. Superior Street
Appleton, WI 54911
920-739-1231