Betty Jean Wicke

Betty Jean (Allen) Wicke, 84, of Atwood, died Thursday, June 1, 2017. She was born August 9, 1932 to Fred L. and Mary V. (Lilly) Allen, on a farm south of Stratton, Nebraska or north of Beardsley in Rawlins County Kansas. The last of seven, she joined siblings Delbert Allen, Ruth Havel, John William, Everett Allen, Dorothy Brown and Ruby Downing Eggers.

Betty Jean attended school in Atwood and graduated from A.C.H.S. with the Class of 1952. In August of 1952, she became a member of Trinity Lutheran Church, Ludell, KS. On November 16, 1952, she married her high school sweetheart, Ernest C. Wicke, and became a housewife and homemaker. They were blessed with four sons. Danny R. (Betty Rose), Orleans, NE; Randy C. (JoAnn) Decatur, TX; Terry A., Apache Junction, AZ; and Jon E. (Gail), Eaton, CO.

May 18, she came under the care of Danny and Betty in Orleans, NE along with hospice care in Kansas and Nebraska. She died there with her family at her side.

She leaves to mourn her husband, Ernie; her sons and families; ten grandchildren; sixteen great-grandchildren; her sister, Dorothy Brown, of Atwood; sisters-in-law Jeannine (Bob) Eisenach of McCook, NE and Kathleen (Darrel) Humble of The Woodlands, TX; brother-in-law James (Caroline) Searls of Bella Vista, AR; and a host of family, friends, neighbors and classmates.

A celebration of the love of Christ in her life will be held at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Atwood on Tuesday, June 6 at 10:00 a.m. Interment will immediately follow at the Trinity Lutheran Cemetery, north of Ludell, KS. Memorials are suggested to God’s Little Saints Preschool or The Lutheran Hour, and may be sent in care of Baalmann Mortuary, PO Box 391, Colby, KS 67701. For information or condolences, please visit www.baalmannmortuary.com.