Betty Brown

Livestream

Betty Lou (Fletcher) Brown of Mullen, NE, was born July 10, 1927, in Flagstaff, Arizona. Betty was called home by her maker on November 28, 2025, at the Great Plains Medical Center in North Platte, NE.

“Betty Lou” (as her mother would call her) grew up with a 10-person family in a 3-room sod house near Gandy, NE. She graduated from Gandy High school in 1943 at the age of 16 as part of a two-person graduating class as all of the male members of the class had already left to fight in WW II.

Upon graduation, Betty earned a scholarship to the Nebraska State Teacher’s College at Kearney, NE. She became a certified teacher at the age of 17 and began teaching in a multi-grade one-room schoolhouse. Her duties, after she walked to school, included building the fire in the stove to heat the classroom and ensuring that the barn had sufficient feed and water for her students’ horses. She later revealed that on of her greatest fears was that her older students were very near her age and larger than her; She worried what she would do if they failed to follow her instructions. This was likely the beginning of her “straightforward” personality which further developed in later years.

Betty taught school for 2 years and later married Francis (Buck) Brown on June 1, 1947. She and Buck worked on various ranches across western Nebraska. In March of 1950, with daughters, Lenora and Linda in tow, they left Nebraska to seek their fortunes on ranches near Ontario, Oregon. Later that same year, the Nebraska sandhills called them home and they returned to Stapleton, NE. Later they moved to Grand Island, NE where Gordon Wayne Brown was born in 1951.

In March of 1954, the Nebraska Brand Committee transferred Buck to Atkinson, NE where they lived until 1958. In 1959, Betty and Buck established a dairy operation in Boyd County, NE, near the Missouri river. Betty found the muddy terrain, living conditions and bad water especially challenging. In February of 1961, they liquidated the dairy operation and moved to Mullen, Nebraska. They bought the house at 204 North McShane Avenue from Hank Erny, where they remained for the rest of their lives. In the 60’s two more children, Vivian and Ernie, blessed their union.

In the mid 60’s, Betty also served as the Hooker County Emergency Radio Dispatcher. The radio was installed on top of her deep freezer in her dining room. Betty willingly launched out of bed at all hours to direct local sheriffs, deputies, two state patrol officers and ambulance crews in the performance of their duties. This also involved keeping the coffee pot on at all hours as she was never sure when first responders would be dropping by to visit.

She reported local news for the Hooker County Tribune for over 50 years. For decades, she provided expert tailoring and clothing repair services for clientele spread across 5 counties. Generations of satisfied customers with pairs of jeans in need of patching or perfectly fitting prom dresses owed their success to Betty Brown.

Betty was an avid genealogist, spending decades digging for family history information which followed family lines all the way back to Europe in the 1600’s. During these searches, Betty discovered multiple direct family lineages which supported her successful application to the Daughters of the American Revolution. Betty was active in the United Methodist Church, the Hooker County Historical Society and the Hooker County Genealogy Society.

Betty was preceded in death by her parents, 3 sisters and 2 brothers, a daughter Linda, a son, Gordon, and her husband, Buck. She is survived by her sister Pat, daughters Lenora and Vivian, son Ernie, 8 grandchildren and a multitude of great grandchildren.

Funeral Services will be held at the Methodist Church in Mullen, NE at 11:00 AM MT on Thursday, December 4, 2025. Interment will be at 2:00 PM MT (3:00 PM Central Time) at McCain Cemetery southeast of Stapleton, NE. Memorials suggested to the Mullen Methodist Church. A visitation will be held on Wednesday, December 3rd, from 2:00 to 6:00 PM, with family greeting 4:00 to 6:00 PM at the Mullen Funeral Home. . Govier Brothers Mortuary is in charge of arrangements. Online words or remembrance or condolences may be left at www.govierbrothers.com

Memorials suggested to the Mullen Methodist Church.