Obituary of Betty J. DeBlasio

Betty Joyce DeBlasio peacefully took her leave of this world after 88 years, on Thursday October 23rd, at Arnot-Ogden Medical Center, surrounded by her children. Betty was born in El Centro, California, the largest city in the Imperial Valley, on March 26, 1926, when "the temperature was 101-degrees." She claimed she'd never been that warm since. Betty was the daughter of Grant and Roberta [Jamison] Burnett. The family soon moved back to Silt, Colorado, a small ranching community in the rugged Rocky Mountains located fifty miles west of Aspen. Betty attended Silt Consolidated School, was a member of the Boys & Girls 4H Club, and State Spelling Champion. Two weeks before the end of 6th Grade, Betty contracted Typhoid Fever, an acute infectious disease caused by bacteria; and a deadly prognosis in the era before penicillin. Betty spent six weeks confined to bed, and nearly died. When she recovered, the family moved to Chandler, Arizona, where the warmer climate and lower altitude helped Betty in the step-by-step return to her former strength and energy. In the 1940s the Burnett's were living in Marysville, California, a small Sacramento Valley town near the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Betty attended Marysville Union High School]. Grant owned and operated three trailer camps, a restaurant, bar and grocery store. Roberta had a job teaching at nearby Camp [later, USAF Base] Beale. She found sixteen-year old Betty an afterschool job at the Camp canteen handing out sodas and hamburgers to the soldiers. Jack, a soldier who liked Betty but couldn't make their date one night sent his best friend Henry 'Hank Heppy, of Elmira, to take his place. Betty married Hank on September 3, 1943. The newly-weds soon moved to Fort McClellan, Alabama so Hank continue his Army training. Later, Betty moved to Elmira and stayed with Hank's family, on Elmira's High Street. On December 25, 1943, he went to Europe to fight in World War II. Their daughter Roberta was born in August 1944. Hank was killed-in-action on April 10, 1945. He was later brought home and buried in Woodlawn National Cemetery. Rather than return to California, Betty stayed in Elmira. Hank's sister Mary, who worked afterschool at Joy Automatics Vending Company on Church Street, got Betty a job there as a jukebox record clerk. Betty gradually went to counting money from all the company's machines, and making up deposits. Later, she did secretarial work and signed company checks. While at Joy Automatics, she met and married Anthony DeBlasio, on September 6, 1947. He later became company manager. They had three children: Andrew, Jeannette and Debra. The family lived at 702 Park Place until 1954 when they moved to West Hill Road. Betty was a stay-at-home- mom while her children were growing up, as well as volunteering her time to assist the nuns at St. Patrick's Grammar School in any way she could. The nuns considered Betty "an angel," who her children already knew her to be. Betty could work wonders with a Singer Sewing machine, making clothes and Halloween costumes for her children. She enjoyed hunting for bargains at rummage sales, upholstering the furniture in their home, and picking cherries at Seneca Lake orchards. She and the kids spent summers in Marysville, California with the Burnett relatives. Betty never missed anyone's birthday, anniversary or important event in the lives of her extended Burnett, Heppy and DeBlasio family. When her children were in high school, Betty took a secretarial job at Artistic Card Company, and later, for 18 years, was secretary at St. Patrick's Church Rectory, and wrote the weekly parish bulletin. She was baptized in the Roman Catholic faith in December24, 1970; was a long-time communicant of St. Patrick's Church; and an active member and secretary of the Legion of Mary. For years Betty taught Religious Education at St. Patrick's Grammar School; delivered Meals on Wheels; and volunteered at the Chemung County Nursing Facility. Betty loved to spend time with her family, was well as working on puzzles and word search games. The shelves, nooks and cupboards were crowded with the hundreds of science fiction books she loved to read, while the walls, tables and dressers were crowded with memorabilia and family photographs stretching back generations. Betty instilled in her children of love of reading and family; games and movies. Her first husband Henry, her second husband Anthony; her sister Charlene of Sacamento, California, son-in-law Robert Elliott of Rochester, NY precede Betty to Heaven. She is survived by sister Cherie Burnett of Marysville , sister Gloria Montoya, brother Lee Roy Burnett of Olivehurst, California, sisters-in-law, Mary (Donald) Shank of Daytona FL, Carmella DeBlasio of Corning, Dorothy Moretti Reese of Elmira, Mary Jack of South Carolina; and many nieces and nephews. Her four children survive Betty: Roberta Heppy and Andrew DeBlasio of Elmira; Jeannette (Robert) Brewster of Fairlawn, OH; and Debra Elliott of Rochester, NY. Five grandchildren survive Betty: Amy (Nathan) Smith of Canandaigua, NY; Stacey Elliott and Shawn Elliott of Rochester, NY; Robert (Jane) Brewster of Columbus, OH and Jacqueline (Michael Farquhar) Brewster of New York City. Three great-grandchildren survive Betty: Robert Joseph Brewster & James Anthony Brewster of Columbus, OH and Elijah Nathan Smith of Canandaigua. Family and friends are invited to McInerny Funeral Home, corner of West Water and Walnut Streets on Monday October 27, 2014 from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Tuesday October 28, 2014 at 10:00 AM at St. Patrick's Church. Interment and committal prayers will follow at St. Peter and Paul's Cemetery on the Southside. Betty was a loving and devoted wife, mother, sister-in-law and grandmother. Her kindness, gentle nature and shy smile will be missed by all who knew her. Each of Betty's children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren knows that the world is a much better place for her having been in it; and that they were blessed with "the best Mom that could ever be."