Betty Martin Lacy

Betty Martin Lacy, 104, died peacefully at Coulee Medical Center on Friday, May 3,, 2024.

She was born March 30, 1920, in Wallace, Idaho to William Martin and Ameilia Rawe Martin. Betty grew up by the Milk River in Nashua, Montana as the 13th of 15 children.

Betty originally visited Grand Coulee in 1936 to help her oldest sister with her two young sons. In 1943 she met and married Cleatis Lacy in Seattle shortly before he was deployed with the Navy in WWII. Betty lived in Vancouver to be near the Naval Base Hospital until her daughter, Clea was born. She moved permanently to Grand Coulee to be by her parents and a few siblings in late 1943.

After the war, Cleatis joined Betty in Grand Coulee in October 1945 and went to work at the Grand Coulee Dam. They were joined by daughter Joanne in 1947 and daughter Gail in 1957.

Betty kept busy with her daughters, their horses and activities and her gardening and canning. She joined Cleatis on the rodeo trail working as a timer for PRCA and they traveled all over the west to rodeos. She also attended many sporting events, junior rodeos and dog shows to watch and cheer for her grandkids. Betty also stayed fit walking miles a day and entering fun runs all over the area from Bloomsday in Spokane to the Coulee City Cow Pie Jog and the Over-the-Dam run and had a gym membership until she was 98.

Betty enjoyed travelling and visited Washington DC, Texas, National Parks throughout the West and Southwest and cruised to Mexico. At 75, she was excited to finally see Disneyland and Universal Studios.

Betty was well known for baking breads, cinnamon rolls, and pies, especially apple, that she took to many events. She was also in the first female class to be inducted to the Meat Cutters of America Union. She met many people in the community through the hours she worked at her brother and brother-in-law's hardware store Rawe & Rauch.

Betty was preceded in death by her husband of 68 years in 2011 and lived alone until moving to the Coulee Community Long-Term Care facility in the Fall of 2018 at nearly 99. She was the last of her large family, preceded in death by 14 siblings. Her death marks the end of a generation. Survivors include: three daughters: Clea Pryor Coulee Dam, Joanne Grumbly (Mark) Spokane and Gail Elliott (Jim) Payette, Idaho; 6 grandkids, 8 great-grandkids, and 5 great-great grandkids, as well as many nieces and nephews.

Celebration of Betty's life will be held Saturday, May 18th at 2pm at Faith Community Church in Electric City. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to Coulee Medical Center Long-Term Care Activities.