- Date Of Birth: April 23, 1931
- Date Of Death: July 18, 2024
- State: Michigan
Elizabeth M. “Betty” Thelen a resident of St. Johns, and native of Fowler and Westphalia, Michigan died on July 18, 2024 at the age of 93. Born in Fowler, Michigan on April 23, 1931, the daughter of Albert and Leona (Simmon) Witgen, Betty was a 1949 graduate of Westphalia High School. While raising her six children on her farm, she served as a Christian Education Instructor and teachers aide in the Fowler School system, and worked in the Clinton County Clerks office, with the MSU Extension, and retired in 1996 from the Clinton County Drain Commission. She was a proud member of the St. Johns Business and Professional Womens Club and enjoyed serving as a sewing instructor with 4H.Betty was an avid reader, loved working crossword puzzles, playing cards, especially Bridge, with friends and family, and keeping a large garden. She loved to sew, crochet, and especially enjoyed quilting. Throughout her life she enjoyed traveling with friends, with special trips to Drummond Island, to Europe, the east coast, and to Las Vegas. She was a devout Catholic, a woman of deep faith, and she will be dearly missed.She was preceded in death by her parents Albert and Leona Witgen, brother, Jerome Witgen, sister, Gertie Simmon, and her former husband, Claude Thelen, with whom she was blessed with the births of six children. Surviving are her sons, Keith Thelen and Neil (Linda) Thelen; her daughters, Mary Lee (Bruce) Ball, Lois Thelen, Lynn Thelen, and Nancy Carbone; grandchildren, Zachary (Jessie), Jacob, and Gabriel (Bridget) Thelen, Lindsey (Brian) Westrin, Matthew Thelen, Brian Ball, Eric (Nichole) Ball, Elizabeth, Dominick, and Victor Carbone; great grandchildren, Jonah and Zoey Thelen, Lucy, Piper, and Penelope Westrin, Grayson and Sophia Ball; her sister, Vonnie (the late Bill) Asher, and many extended family members and dear friends who join her family in both mourning her passing and giving thanks to God for her life among them.
