Betty Jane Rupe was born on March 5, 1928 in Bloomfield, Iowa to John and Florence (Ellenberger) Bootsma. She graduated from Bloomfield High School in 1946 and then attended college at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas.

Betty was united in marriage to William Dwayne Rupe on October 18, 1948 in Nashua, Iowa, and to this union, three children were born: Jane Ann, John K. and Karen Kay. The family made their home in Valentine where Betty co-owned and operated the Ideal Cleaners with her husband Dwayne for over 40 years.

She was a member of the St. Johns Episcopal Church in Valentine, and enjoyed spending time with family, reading, and traveling.

Betty passed away on February 17, 2012 at the age of 83, at the Cherry County Hospital in Valentine after a lengthy battle with cancer. She was preceded in death by her father John Bootsma and her mother Florence Blecharczyk and her husband Victor.

She is survived by her husband William Dwayne Rupe of Valentine, Nebraska, three children, Jane Ann Rice and her husband Jimmy of Chadron, Nebraska, John K. Rupe and his wife Joan of Valentine, Nebraska and Karen Kay Campbell and her husband Tom of Elizabethtown, Kentucky; five grandchildren: Adam and Scott Rupe, Tommy and Heather Campbell, and Talya Rice; three great-grandchildren: Tommy Campbell, IV, Shawn Campbell and Colter Shellitoe; one brother, Victor Carl Blecharczyk and his wife Kathy of Marysville, Kansas; two sisters-in-law: Ardath Pearson of Grinnel, Iowa and Marlene Myers and her husband Reg of Colchester, Illinois, as well as a host of nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.
Memorials are suggested in her memory to The American Cancer Society at P.O. Box 22718, Oklahoma City, OK 73123-1718 or online at www.cancer.org.
Memorial services will be held at a later date. Sandoz Chapel of the Pines was