- Date Of Birth: August 30, 1920
- Date Of Death: February 8, 2020
- State: Illinois
Elizabeth Ann Steenrod Opel Holm, a.k.a. Bettina, a.k.a. Grandma Tina, a.k.a. Miss B. died with characteristic grace at Parkview Home on February 8th.
She was the much loved mother of Doug, Lesley, Roger, Tim and Alison Opel; the fun-loving grandmother of Darren, Doug, Melanie, Molly, Dan and Dayton Opel, Erin, Annie, Laney and Brie McKee, Ryan and Shannon Opel, Abby, Paul, Kate and Becka Ormsbee; great grandmother of 33 great grandchildren.
Bettina was born in 1920 and was a life-long resident of Freeport as were her mother and father before her. She attended Lincoln Elementary School, Freeport High School, Northwestern University and Katherine Gibbs Secretarial School. In 1943, she married her great love, Donald Opel, who was also a native Freeporter. After he died in 1990, she married longtime friend and late-in-life love, Peter Holm, bringing about the happy union of two families who had known each other for many years.
Bettina’s great joy and the focus of her life was her rambunctious family. She was the star with second billing – always content to stay in the background ceding the limelight to gregarious others. She preferred to be happily busy doing what needed to be done while others could revel in the attention – cooking the meals, baking the brownies, making the phone calls, doing the laundry, helping with homework… Yet she managed to be so much fun! She loved to play card games and board games with her kids and grandkids (she was ruthless at double solitaire and don’t even try to beat her at Uno…) She was a legendary good sport – more often the one to laugh at your joke, rather than telling one of her own.
For many years she embraced the role of faithful and loving daughter to her mother and mother-in-law, both of whom lived within a block of her home on Lincoln Blvd. She alternated having one or the other over for Sunday dinner and took them both grocery shopping on Friday mornings.
Summer weekends were spent at Pleasant Lake in Wisconsin where everyone could forget responsibilities and swim, fish, water ski, mess around in the row boat, play badminton, soft ball or ping pong, sit around a campfire on the beach … Everyone except Bettina, that is. She still had to produce 3 meals a day, hang up wet swimsuits, sweep sand out of the cottage, clean the patio… She didn’t relax until the deck of cards came out after dinner and everyone sat around the big table to play blackjack or hearts.
Bettina and Don spent many happy winters in Naples, Florida, where they opened their door to hoards of kids and grandkids arriving to fish with Grandpa Don, walk the beach looking for sand dollars with Grandma Tina followed by the picnic lunch of tuna sandwiches she had brought along, splash around the pool, visit Jungle Larry’s, build sand castles on the beach, bask in the sun lying on her much used bamboo mats ….. They even treated all the kids and grandkids to a trip to Disney World – an uproarious time everyone is still talking about.
Bettina was keenly aware that she was born of privilege – and didn’t let her children forget that they were too. She would remind them that not every one had a stay-at-home mother to cook a nutritious dinner every night or a houseful of books and someone to read to them at bedtime or a family who was able to take road trips to Washington DC and Florida… She wanted her children to be mindful of those less fortunate and to realize that not everyone is dealt the same hand. She was a quiet shining example.
In her later years Bettina found a home at Parkview. Here she also found Doreen Erdman, who began as her personal caretaker but became so much more. She was like an angel who threw her arms around Bettina right from the start. The two of them sang and danced and walked and laughed and went on outings and played games. Doreen enriched Bettina’s life in a way her children, living far away, could not. She became Bettina’s closest friend for which her family is profoundly grateful.
In honor of Bettina, her family is asking that you spend time with your loved ones. Step across generational lines, pull out a board game or a deck of cards, dress up your favorite doll, spend a summer evening catching fireflies, and make the kind or memories that live on forever. Play your heart out; play for keeps. Play to always, without fail, beat your grandkids at Uno.
