Notes for BETTY JUNE KAUPKE PHILLIPS:
Daughter of Fred Ernest and Edith May (Mervin) Kaupke.
Born: June 25, 1923 in Enid, Garfield County, Oklahoma.
Died: OJanuary 24, 2010 in Tuscon, Pima County, Arizona.
Buried: East Lawn Palms Cemetery and Mortuary, Tuscon, Pima County, Arizona.
Religion: Seventh-Day Adventists.
Married: Raymond James Phillips March 29, 1947 in Silver City, Grant County, New Mexico.
Obituary:
The Bugle Camp Verde, Arizona
1/30/2010
Betty J. Kaupke-Phillips 1924 - 2010
Betty J Kaupke-Phillips passed away January 24, 2010 at the age of 86. She is survived by her daughter Joan J. Phillips, three grandchildren: Jared and wife Melissa Steinbring of Tucson, twin granddaughters: Laurel Steinbring and Chelsea Steinbring, both of Flagstaff, a step-daughter Pat Phillips and a granddaughter Erin Rehberg of Napa, California, a step-son William Phillips of Albuquerque, NM and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Betty's parents, Fred and Edith Kaupke moved to Tucson from Enid, OK when she was 12, in hopes the location would resolve Betty's asthmatic condition. This move magically allowed her to live a full and productive life in the face of progressive lung disease.
Betty's family later relocated to Bisbee where they lived until 1967. Betty graduated from Bisbee High School in 1941 and soon after began work at Ft. Huachuca. Later she worked at the Cochise County District Attorney's office and was secretary to Judge John F. Ross, DA John Pintek. She also had a public stenographer practice and it was during those years she met her husband Raymond J. Phillips, owner of Western Auto in Bisbee, and later district salesmen for Zork Hardware.
They were married in 1947 in Silver City, N.M. Betty was a homemaker throughout her daughter's school years and was widowed with Ray's early death in 1966. She never re-married. Betty and her parents relocated to Scottsdale, AZ in 1967 and once there she worked as a secretary at her church's state headquarters: The Arizona Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists.
She retired in 1979 and moved to Cottonwood, AZ. She returned to Tucson in 2006 to be closer to her family. Betty was an avid birdwatcher and world traveler with excursions throughout Mexico in the 1940's, as well as coast to coast in the U.S. and Canada. She had an adventurous spirit enjoying trips to Africa, Europe, China, Australia, Fiji and riding a mail freighter to Alaska in her 70's. She gave unfailing support to Adventist mission work and many societies for the care and safety of animals. She was a dedicated Bible scholar and lifelong member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church. As the matriarch of her family, she taught us all unconditional love.
She was generous to all and will be remembered well, and with love by her family and a multitude of friends.
She will be buried at East Lawn Cemetery in Tucson after a memorial service celebrating her courageous life. Services will be at Desert View Church, 1200 N. Santa Rosa Ave., Tucson, at 1 PM. Donations may be made in her honor to TMC Hospice; Peppi's House.
Information provided by survivors.
