Betty Jean (Bogan) Nelson

April 1927 - March 2022

Posted

Betty went to be with the Lord on March 23, 2022.  She was three weeks shy of her 95th birthday.  

Betty was a year old when her father Alvin moved the family from Oregon to Port Townsend. Alvin was hired by Zellerbach, as part of a group, to build the paper mill. 

She married Howard Steinfort in 1949. She raised four children: James, Roger, Nancy and Richard. The family moved to Seattle in 1962. Betty worked a variety of jobs including telephone switchboard operator in Port Townsend and loan officer at Sallal Credit Union from which she retired.  

In 1972, Betty married Robert Nelson. They enjoyed boating, camping and traveling. Bob retired in 1990 and they returned to Port Townsend. They had 39 years together before Bob passed in 2011.  

Betty was a crafter: knitting, crochet, embroidery, quilting, oil painting, rubber stamping, stained glass, etc. She also played piano and loved to sing. She had a stroke in 2009 and was forced to quit a lot of her crafting because she had little use of her left hand. She was very active in the Lutheran Church and had many friends. 

Her youngest son Rick died in 2009 from cancer; her middle son Roger died in 2011 from cancer. Betty was a cancer survivor. She is survived by her son, James Steinfort, and daughter, Nancy Mills. She has four grandchildren, Jesse Steinfort (Gina), Kianna Nguyen (Trung), Jenny Mayo (Clinton) and Kevin Steinfort.  She has 12 great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren.  

A celebration of her life will be held at Grace Lutheran Church in Port Townsend at 2 p.m. April 23, 2022. Donations may be given to Grace Lutheran Church in her name.