Betty R. Bredeson

Betty R. Bredeson passed away peacefully on November 9, 2015. Her passing followed the effects of a massive stroke a week earlier.

Like all of us, Betty’s life was filled with tragedy and triumph, sadness and joy. Overall, she lived a very full 89 years and leaves behind a treasure of family, memories and friends. She never met a stranger and never forgot a friend. A quick, condensed summary of her passions would be: family, traveling, cards and socializing.

Born Betty Ann Ramser on July 30, 1926, Betty was the youngest child of William and Alice Ramser. Her siblings included an older sister, Lorraine and an older brother, Lloyd.

She grew up with her family in a roomy two-story home in Centralia. The home was filled with laughter, family and competitive card games. Betty’s morals and ethics were learned by experience in this house.

Betty’s father was a conductor for the Union Pacific Railroad. During the depression years the railroads were determined by President Roosevelt to be essential to national security which meant that his job was secure. Other family members whose jobs were not so protected moved in from time to time with Betty’s parents to ensure food and shelter for themselves.

Another example was this story …. Betty’s father refused to have a telephone in their home for many years. At the time, employees of the Union Pacific Railroad were informed about their shift assignments in person by “runners” going to their homes if they didn’t have telephones. Being a very strong union member he feared that if everyone got telephones, the runners would be out of jobs. The lack of a phone put a burden on suiters wishing to call Betty but they learned to adapt.

Following graduation from Centralia High School in 1944, she attended a business school where she acquired office and bookkeeping skills that she would utilize throughout her life.

At the end of World War II, she met and married James Galpin who was also a Centralia resident and a returning member of the Army Air Corp. Betty and Jim resided in Centralia where he worked for the Union Pacific Railroad and she worked part-time at the State of Washington Department of Employment. They were blessed with three sons during their marriage. Keith Galpin was the oldest followed by Wayne Galpin and Dean Galpin.

Sadly, Wayne and Dean were born with Cystic Fibrosis. Given the limited medical knowledge of CF in the 1950’s, family life was dominated by doctors, hospitals, medications and treatments for both sons. Wayne died in 1954 at age 6 and Dean passed in 1966 at age 15. The marriage of Betty and Jim ended in 1964 in divorce. They each continued to work cooperatively in the lives of Dean and Keith thereafter.

Betty continued her bookkeeping career briefly with a start-up company named Wimjet and later at the Hemphill-O’Neill timber company in Napavine, Washington. She eventually retired from Hemphill-O’Neill and concentrated her later years on friends, travel and cards.

One of her greatest loves was playing Duplicate Bridge in competitive arenas. She ultimately earned enough “Master Points” to be 1 ½ points short of a Bridge Master designation which is akin to the Hall of Fame of Bridge players.

While playing bridge in Olympia she met Bill Brodie who was a CPA working for the Washington State Attorney General’s office. They eventually married and settled in Centralia where they lived until his untimely death from a heart attack as a result of a life-long battle with diabetes. Betty remained very close to Bill’s son, Jim and his wife Cathy the balance of her life.

Arvid Bredeson, a native of Minnesota traveled to visit his sister Fran. His niece, Claire, and her husband Rod lived next door to Betty. They introduced Betty to Arvid and eventually saw them marry in Betty’s backyard.

While Betty continued to pursue competitive bridge on a diminished scale, she and Arvid embarked on a square dancing adventure complete with hoop skirts and beaded western shirts. Additionally, they loved to travel.

They were able to travel to England, Alaska, a number of states in the continental U. S., and saw the Panama Canal. In fact, Betty was so intrigued with the day-long passage through the canal that she got up very early and secured a chair at the bow of the ship. She didn’t want to miss a moment of the experience so Arvid’s job was to get her food whenever she wanted and to save her seat whenever she needed to “freshen up”.

Betty and Arvid moved to Port Orchard in 2007 to be closer to family. Arvid passed in 2008.

Betty made a number of friends during her residence in Port Orchard. She was an active member of the Senior Sneakers while health permitted and a weekly pinochle player at the Gig Harbor Eagles Club.

For everyone who met her, they quickly realized that she never met a stranger and she was never to busy to engage in conversation (even if other customers at the store were waiting in line for her to finish talking to the clerk).

Sports played a major role in Betty’s life. It began with her two sons, Keith and Dean playing baseball – she never missed one of their games. Once she moved to Port Orchard, she attended her great grandson’s basketball and soccer games and her great granddaughter’s soccer, basketball, softball and volleyball games.

Practically the only TV she watched was professional sports. Baseball was the most appealing to her. She watched every Mariner game on television (sometimes twice when she would fall asleep and wake up to see the re-broadcast at a point in the game earlier than when she dozed off).

She had very definite views on what the Mariners management should be doing and occasionally when she was particularly upset with them she would take out her typewriter and sent off a nasty gram to them. She would often be very specific in naming individual players who should be benched, traded, and sent down to the minors.

It was Betty’s wish that there not be a formal service following her passing. She detailed this in a letter of instruction to her son, Keith that she wrote in 1979. Over the years she did not waiver from this view but did allow that a gathering of family would be ok if we all “have a drink or two and find something nice to say about her.” Her son, Keith and his wife, Susan Galpin, will be hosting such a gathering, for friends and family on December 14, from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm. This will be held at their home in Canterwood at 13008 – 50th Ave. Ct. NW, Gig Harbor, Wa 98332.

In lieu of flowers Betty suggests you consider donations to the Children’s Hospital or the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.