Betty L. (Thomas) Cristo was born August 12, 1923, on the family farm in Silvercreek Township, in Burt County to Robert W. and Levena “Bea” (Stonecypher) Thomas. She graduated from Riverside High School in rural Burt County in 1940. She attended the University of Nebraska in Lincoln and later, Dana College in Blair, and Metro Tech in Omaha. She taught school at District 35 in Burt County; Hooper School in Dodge County; Long Creek School and kindergarten at Nashville School, both in Washington County.

She traveled with her sisters and worked as a young woman and saw many interesting parts of the country.

In 1956, she married Peter “Pete” T. Cristo in Omaha. She gave birth to a daughter, Patricia Ann, in 1957, and a son, Thomas Mark, in 1958. In 1959, they moved to Nashville, Neb. where she resided at the time of her death from old age of October 13, 2007.

Betty was a kind, honest, generous and intelligent woman. She loved children and animals, and strongly believed in fairness and equality for all people. She served on the Nashville School Board and ran a 4-H group. She had a lifelong interest in music and gardening. She was a wonderful mother.

She was preceded in death by an infant sister, Helen Ruth; sister, Norma Sauls; brother, Earl “Buck” Thomas; her parents and husband.

She is survived by her daughter, Patricia, of Omaha; son, Tom, of Council Bluffs, Iowa; sisters, Mary Ellen Dalegowski of Flagstaff, Ariz., and Dorothy Weatherington of Murphy, N.C.; nieces, nephews and other relatives.

Interment was at the Fort Calhoun Cemetery, nest to her husband.

A memorial service will be 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 20, at Sievers-Sprick Funeral Home in Fort Calhoun.

~ An identical article was published in the Omaha World Herald on October 17, 2007.