Betty P. Hildebrand

BETTY P. HILDEBRAND

Buffalo, Mo.

Betty Pauline Barclay Hildebrand left us to be with the Lord on Friday, Oct. 30, 2020. She was 93 years young when heaven welcomed a remarkable soul.

Funeral services were held Nov. 7 in Buffalo, Mo., her home for well over a decade. She wished to be cremated.

Betty was born Jan. 7, 1927, the eldest of Noah and Zella Barclay's six children. She was her class valedictorian and earned a college scholarship. In 1947, she married a sailor, James Ralph Hildebrand of Windyville, Mo., and they were married 67 years before his death in 2015. She is survived by her sister, Beulah Buerge.

Ralph and Betty followed jobs to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where they had four daughters, Pam, Sherri, Penny and Polly. Betty's goal was to raise strong, caring, independent women, and she did. Betty was smart, funny, compassionate, quick-witted and ahead of her time. She fought for women's rights and equal pay in the '70s and paved the way for working women.

Betty and Ralph retired to the Lake of the Ozarks before settling in Buffalo closer to family and friends. The woman who couldn't sew joined the Quilt Club ladies to entertain. She played basketball in high school and became an NBA superfan. Kevin Durant and LeBron James were the sons she never had.

One of her final wishes was to take care of those she loved at Hopewell Freewill Baptist Church in Tunas, Mo. Please support them financially if you can.

Shed a tear but know that Betty lived a full and happy life. She also leaves behind amazing sons-in-law, six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Family and friends have told us over and over this week, "Betty was easy to love."

A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date in Cedar Rapids.