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Betty Mae Long, 83

| August 24, 2014 9:00 PM

Beloved wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother Betty Mae Long, 83, passed away peacefully on Friday, Aug. 15, 2014, at Hospice House of North Idaho with family at her bedside.

Betty was born March 22, 1931, in her grandparent's farmhouse in Bowman, N.D., to Clara Nettie Annie Gross. At the age of four, Betty's entire family relocated from Bowman to Bonners Ferry, Idaho, due to the Dust Bowl of 1935. Betty wrote of her memories at that time, "Goodbye North Dakota. The family was loaded into an old truck that had a cover over the back like a covered wagon. I remember looking out the back through the opening and saw all of the brown fields. Grandpa Gross had lost his land due to the Dust Bowl, and the family was relocating to Idaho where land was available at a good price."

Betty graduated from Bonners Ferry High School in 1949. On Nov. 23, 1952, Betty married Gene Long. They purchased and operated his family's dairy farm in Copeland, Idaho.

In 1963, Betty and Gene moved their family to Spokane, where Gene pursued a technical degree in commercial baking. They then operated the Thrift Grocery Bakery in St. Maries, Leonard's Bakery in Veradale, Wash., and Blue Mountain Bakery in Dayton, Wash.

Betty graduated from North Idaho College in 1983 with an Associates in Early Childhood Development; she then achieved an LPN Certificate.

Betty was known best for her love of God, and her selfless generosity and dedication to family and friends. She truly will be missed by all who knew and loved her.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Eugene R. "Gene" Long, on April 13, 2014; her mother, Clara Gross-Padgett-Hickock of Bonners Ferry; sisters Genevieve Kenworthy of Waitsburg, Wash., Hazel Nieuwenhuis-Thomson of Clifton, Texas, and brother Archie Padgett of Spokane.

Betty is survived by her four daughters, Margaret Cultice of Coeur d'Alene; Pamela Onstott of Post Falls; Clareen Franke of Pullman, Wash.; and Eugenia Pittman of Lewiston, Idaho; 10 grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren (and one on the way); two sisters, Vivian Irwin of Bonners Ferry, and Geri Helm-Springer of Lewiston; and brother Butch Padgett of New Meadows, Idaho.

Viewing will be held from noon to 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 29, 2014, at English Funeral Chapel in Post Falls. A memorial will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 30, with burial to follow at Evergreen Cemetery, Post Falls. A reception provided by her daughters will follow. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions in Betty's name to The Hospice of North Idaho in Hayden.

Please visit Betty's online memorial page at www.englishfuneralchapel.com to sign her guest book and share your memories of her.