Betty Gorman

Interviewed on April 16, 2013 by Yana VonHeim, Emily Bledsoe, Mrs. Huff

Current Age: 86

Betty was married to James for 55 years. He passed away in 2003. They had eight children—four girls and four boys. (the first four were all boys!)

Michael was born in 1948, and has three children, James, Melanie and Dianna. Timothy was born in 1949, and passed away in 1984. He had no children. Steven was born in 1951 and passed away in 2009. He had no children. Greg was born in 1952 and lives in Omaha. He is not married and has no children. Susan was born in 1957. She married Brian and they have three kids—James, Steven and Kimberly. Nancy was born in 1960 and married David. Shawna and Danny are their children. Cynthia was born in 1963, and Amy in 1968. They both are not married and have no kids.

Betty has nine great-grandsons and three great-granddaughters. Both Melanie and Shawna each have four boys. Kimberly has one girl, Steven has one boy and a girl, and James has one girl.

After learning that Betty had eight kids, it is quite surprising to find out that she was an only child.

Betty was born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1926. She stayed at Mother Plumly’s Foster Home in Des Moines until she was adopted when she was 7 months old. She was raised in Jackson, Minnesota. Her father was a veterinarian. Very few people know that she was adopted.

Growing up in Jackson was very nice. She liked the small-town atmosphere. She finished her junior year there, then relocated to Van Nuys, California for her senior year of high school. Her school there was very large, but she discovered that she had received a very good education in Jackson. Her English teacher in California, as well as a teacher at the business school she later attended both commented on her outstanding English skills and asked where she learned them. Ms. Ashland was her English teacher at Jackson. She later got the opportunity to share that story with her, which meant a lot to Ms. Jackson.

To this day poor grammar really bothers her. This trait has been passed on to her children as well.

Going to Van Nuys was quite a change because it was so large. It was tough being pulled out of her senior year.

Her childhood was great. Because the town was small, it was safe to go outside. Her best friend, Mary, also was an only child. They still keep in contact. Her husband was deceased as well. In fact, she last spoke to her about three weeks before this interview. She and Mary were part of a group of five girls that were really close. The other three were Barb, DeLanne and another Barb.

Betty worked as a clerk at Felcyn Department Store right after high school. She also worked as a phone operator for Northwestern Bell in Jackson.

She attended the Minnesota School of Business where she met Jim. She must have known that he was “the one” right away as she volunteered to convert to the Catholic church on the third date. Luckily, they were both Irish!

They lived in Minnesota after they were married. Jim was transferred to Omaha. He worked at Sunshine Biscuits making Cheez-Its. He then got transferred to Oneida, New York. The business closed, and then he got hired on at Pfizer Genetics in Doniphan, Nebraska.

Mike and Tim were born in Minneapolis. The rest were born in Fairmont, Minnesota, except for Amy, who was born in Albert Lea. Betty said that whenever God had a kid he didn’t know what to do with, he said, “I’ll give them to Jim and Betty.”

The kids were all raised while they were still living in Minnesota, and Betty enjoyed that time in her life. They went on a lot of picnics and got to go swimming a lot because parks were very close. Betty did some volunteer work at the Catholic Used Clothing store in Grand Island.

She had a stroke in June, 2003. It was very mild. Jim died that September, and she had another, more severe stroke that same month.

She and Amy moved into an apartment in Grand Island for a while. After that she moved to an assisted living facility in Grand Island. A year ago last September she moved to Crowell Home to be closer to Nancy and David. When she moved into Crowell, David got her a very nice T.V. stand that she uses also to display her cherished items.

Betty says that she is very talkative. In fact, she says the only trouble she got into as a kid was because she was talking when she shouldn’t have been. She says that after she gets over her initial shyness she always feels fine. She enjoys meeting new people. She enjoyed that about moving to Crowell.

It was very obvious that Betty loves her family—especially her late husband.

#2 From obituary printed in the Sunday, January 22, 2017 Omaha World-Herald p. 16

Betty Jean Gorman

November 21, 1926 ~ January 19, 2017

Preceded in death by her husband, James Gorman; sons Timothy and Steven Goran; grandson James Barnes.

Betty is survived by her children, Michael (Ching-Mei) Gorman, Greg Gorman, Susan (Brian) Barnes, Nancy (Dave) Barnes, Cindy Gorman, and Amy Gorman; 7 grandchildren; 13 great-grandchildren.

Services planned for a later date.

Arbor Cremation Society 2819 S. 125th Ave. Suite 367, Omaha, Nebraska

~~~obituary and interview courtesy of the Nebraska Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Public Library, Blair, Nebraska ~~~

FindaGrave # 248280000