Bette Reed
Nov 24, 1939 -
Aug 13, 2020
Bette Reed died on Aug. 13, 2020, surrounded by family, peacefully, on her own terms, in the beautiful log home near Palmer, Alaska, that her husband built for her 50 years ago.
Bette and her identical twin Ruth were born on Nov. 24, 1939, to Joe and Rena Mandel, growing up in Manhattan, N.Y.
Bette always wanted to be a nurse. A high school teacher kept telling her she should be a doctor because she was "too smart" for nursing, until her father went down to the school and made the teacher stop.
Bette attended Bellevue Hospital School of Nursing in NYC, graduating with a 3-year RN in 1959, going to work on the prison ward at Bellevue shortly after. She liked working there and called her wards "some of the best-behaved patients I've ever cared for."
But with a severe nursing shortage in the U.S., especially in Alaska, Bette, along with friend and fellow Bellevue graduate, Dodie Matsko, decided to drive across the U.S. and up the Alcan Highway in a new VW Beetle in 1962.
Bette worked at the Alaska Native Service Hospital and, shortly after arriving, enjoyed substituting for a nurse at Point Barrow. She later went to work for Providence Hospital.
Her daughter Debby was born in 1964, just three weeks before the Good Friday Earthquake! Her New York family feared for her for days until she got through to the Federal Building in downtown Anchorage to call them. A single mother in the 1960s, she faced challenges, but made good friends in Anchorage who looked out for her. With their support, she went back to work at Providence, working mostly nights. In 1969, two of those friends introduced her to Gene Reed, a young surveyor who moved up from Minnesota a few years earlier. They married three months later. Gene adopted Debby and they moved to the Matanuska Valley, where Gene had purchased 10 acres and built a basement for his dream log home near the UAF Experiment Farm. Bette became the office nurse for Dr. Bartko, and they lived in that basement while building out the rest of the house.
Shortly after the move, Bette cheated death for the first of what would be several times.
One snowy evening in 1970, her car went off the old Palmer-Wasilla Highway, veering down a steep embankment, hitting a tree. We'll be forever grateful to "Big Jim" Whitt, who climbed down the ditch on a hunch that the tracks looked fresh. The family is also grateful for Dr. Mills and Dr. Compton who helped save her life when few thought she would live. It took Bette's strength and determination to recover and work through the long rehab and left her permanently disabled but didn't slow her down. Gene and Bette had their son, Mike, in 1972.
While raising her children, the nursing profession changed. Most RN jobs required a BS degree, so Bette enrolled in the new Mat-Su College and a N.Y. correspondence school to complete her bachelor's degree.
In 1981, Bette became a school nurse for the Mat-Su Borough School District, working at Iditarod Elementary for 12 years, remembered by many friends she made there, young and old. She also became active in the NEA and NEA-Retired.
Gene and Bette went on to have many Alaska adventures in the state they both loved. They traveled for summer weekends to the fish wheel in Copper Center, courtesy of Debby's grandparents, Harry and Ruth Johns. Later to their cabin on Lake Louise, and RV excursions around the state to watch their son Mike's motocross races.
She loved spending time with her grandsons and was so proud of their education and love of learning, even as they grew to tower over her at more than six feet tall!
Bette's strength saw her through four bouts of cancer, including an experimental bone marrow transplant at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Research Hospital in 1992: Thank you Dr. Webb and Katmai Oncology! Later that year she managed to attend four family weddings in Palmer, NYC and Granada, Spain, and celebrated the birth of her first grandson. She had to retire from school nursing but kept current by volunteering at health fairs all over the state. Years later a harrowing bout of sepsis, and more health crises followed – each time with warnings to family that she might not pull through. Nevertheless, she persisted!
Most had come to expect Bette to bounce back from everything, having repeatedly proved to be the strongest person friends and family have known. But in her final illness, she chose hospice at home and did not want too much "fuss."
Bette was preceded in death by her husband, Gene in 2017. She is survived by her sister, Ruth (Bob) Lindner; daughter, Debby (Keenan) Retherford; son, Mike (Nali) Reed; nephew, Eric (Clara) Geelan; niece, Sara Geelan; and her much beloved grandsons, Shon (Allie) Reed and Jack Retherford.
The family is grateful to Ancora Hospice for their compassionate care. At Bette's request, there will be no service. She died the way she wanted, quietly, at home, with no fuss.
Condolences can be mailed to Debby Retherford, 4525 S. McKechnie Loop, Palmer, AK 99645.
