ELIZABETH JEANETTE COBURN MOLDE

Elizabeth Jeanette "Betty" Coburn Molde, 89, passed away at St. Luke's Hospital Hospice Unit in Duluth, on Friday, May 25, 2012.

She was born Oct. 21, 1922 in Schenectady, N.Y., to Thyra E. Ney Coburn and Douglas F. Coburn.

She was baptized in First English Lutheran Church. After graduation with honors from Mont Pleasant High School, Betty worked in the payroll department at the General Electric Company in Schenectady. She met Luthard Molde, "Lut", who worked for General Electric during World War II, and they were married in Gustavus Adolphus Lutheran Church in Schenectady on March 19, 1944.

After World War II concluded Betty and Lut moved to Montevideo, Lut's home town. There, Betty adopted her new home, family, church and community. She was a home maker for her family. Betty spent time with her children, supporting them in Cub Scouts and Brownie Scouts, as well as their school and church activities. She gave them time, love and strong values.

Betty's close family included brothers and sisters-in-law Borghild and Bert Loken, Adolph and Eleanor Molde, Ingmar and Irene Molde, Inez and Chester Heieren, and Josephine and Theodore Randisi, and their children, "the cousins", in whom she had a life-long interest. Dorothy "Dottie" Brandow of Schenectady, N.Y., has been a treasured and life-long friend.

Betty enjoyed knitting, ceramics, and embroidery. She was active in Our Savior's Lutheran Church, the Elizabeth Circle, Senior Lites, the Chippewa County Historical Society, and in the Jaabaek Lodge, Sons of Norway. Betty had a gentle, loving heart, a caring attitude and felt a sense of responsibility toward her family and community. She was a master of organization and planning. Betty enjoyed meeting people and spending time with friends; she liked company and conversation, particularly when at "the lake", first Lac qui Parle, and then Clitherall. Betty was thoughtful, wise, and possessed an ingenious sense of humor. Careful custodians, Betty and Lut were generous with their time and resources. Both valued education and will be remembered by their family with an ongoing scholarship for graduates of Montevideo High School.

For the last three years Betty made her home in Duluth, close to Marilyn with whom she was able to share much time and many activities. She formed strong and valued friendships at the Mount Royal Pines Apartments.

The brightest smiles given in her last days were for her grandchildren, whose lives and shared time she treasured.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Thyra and Douglas Coburn; her younger brother Bruce D. Coburn; her granddaughter Lucinda Mason; and her husband, Luthard Molde.

Elizabeth "Betty" is survived by her children Douglas Luthard Molde (Linda), Nancy Elizabeth Lankow (John) and Marilyn Jeanette Odean (Allen); and her grandchildren, Christopher Lankow (Deanna), Melissa Lankow Birch (Andrew), Andrew Odean and Evan Odean; step great grandson, Thomas Stang (Beata), and her great grandchildren, Jayden Lankow, Solomon Lankow, Esther Lankow, Samuel Lankow, Rebekah Lankow and Aiden Birch

The family would like to thank St. Luke's physicians, nurses and staff for their skill, excellent care, compassion and support during Betty's time in Intensive Care and Cardiac Care.

SERVICE: 10:30 a.m. Friday in Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Montevideo with burial at Sunset Memorial Cemetery. Visitation and reviewal will take place in the Wing-Bain Funeral Home in Montevideo from 5-7 p.m. Thursday and continue one hour prior to services in the church on Friday. Undesignated memorials will be directed to the Minnesota Community Foundation in support of the Luthard S. and Elizabeth J. Molde Memorial Scholarship Fund.

Wing-Bain Funeral Home of Montevideo, in charge of arrangements for Betty Molde. Please sign the online guestbook at www.wingbain.com

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