Betty Rein

No one can ever love you like your parents have loved you. Our mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Betty Rein, passed away from natural causes at her home on Saturday, April 18, 2020.

Our mom was a wonderful, inquisitive, endlessly supportive presence for all of her family.  The focus of her life was to encourage and support her family and friends to live with kindness and curiosity. She set a delightful example of living for the moment, and the next moment, and the next.

Mom received her Associates Degree in nursing after graduating from high school in Sharonville, OH where she was raised. She wanted to see new places and try new things, so she took a job at a hospital in Colorado Springs, CO. She really enjoyed her new job, and her stories of road trips with her nurse friends into the mountains around Colorado Springs and out to California were the stuff of the best of women’s stories of sisterhood.

Hib Rein was in the Army and stationed in Colorado Springs when they met on a blind date.  As mom told it, she wasn’t real interested in Hib at first, but he persisted. They were married in 1953 and the family started: Connie, then Jeff, followed by Teresa, Christi, and Barbara.  The family moved from Colorado to Albuquerque in 1967. In addition to carpool duties, taking kids to music lessons, swimming, soccer, volleyball, cheerleading, scout meetings, gymnastics, and baseball; Betty went back to school and got her Bachelor’s Degree in nursing and then her Master’s Degree in counseling. Mom continued her nursing career and finally retired after working as a cancer care nurse at St. Joseph Hospital in Albuquerque.

Betty was a regular member of TOPS for decades and her bible study group until shortly before she died.  She was a volunteer at Queen of Heaven Parish when the kids were in school, and continued to volunteer with other religious groups. She took a class in how to be a clown and would occasionally dress up in her home-made costume when visiting people in various support groups that she attended. She was, most fundamentally, a caregiver for family, friends, and patients, whether someone was sick or just in need of a friend.

Betty channeled her own adventuresome spirit into encouraging everyone to try new things, start a new project, finish a forgotten one, read an interesting book, go somewhere different, use a passport, but most of all; she encouraged us all to be kind.  She believed that everyone would appreciate it, and the world would be better, even for just a moment.

Betty will forever be remembered as a warm and comforting presence by her children; Connie Beimer, Jeff Rein, Teresa Foster, Christi Rein, and Barbara Spear; their partners and spouses Rodger Beimer, Jody Neal-Post, John Foster, and Keith Seegers; her grandchildren; Christopher Hinz, Kelsey Rein-Smith, Molly and Zach Foster, Jonah and Cody Spear; as well as her great-grandchildren; Deryk De Vargas, Lydia and Landyn Smith.

Betty’s many friends from TOPS, bible study, various support groups, her brother, Bill Staffan, and sister, Peg Farwick, Bill Hinz, and countless others, will remember her in their own way but all will agree that she had a life well-lived. Funny, compassionate, slightly opinionated, and always interested in others. She loved roses and grew many beautiful varieties. With Spring and blooms everywhere, it is easy to be reminded of her in the sweet fragrance of a new rose bloom, as she loved them all.

Mom planned her remembrance, with a twinkle in her eye, to have a mariachi band for all of us. She wanted us to smile.

Services will be held Friday, August 20, 2021, at French – WYOMING. Rosary will be recited at 9:30 a.m. with a Prayer Service to follow.

Contact Christi Rein at; christi.rein@gmail.com to be notified about the memorial service. Absence brings understanding, appreciation, and gratitude.