Betty Jean Ankeny was born December 4, 1928, in Clarinda, Iowa, the daughter of Edward Ralph Malvern and Pauline Agnes (Crosley) Malvern. Betty’s family lived in several different places as she was growing up including Colorado. Betty was a graduate of Clarinda High School. On December 21, 1947, in Clarinda, Iowa, she was united in marriage to Henry Leo Ankeny. They were blessed with two children, Steven and Nancy.

Betty worked at the Paris-Dunn factory and she then worked at Iowa Western Community College, Clarinda for many years. While she was at Iowa Western, her first job was in the library and she then worked in admissions and in the student aid department and retired as a secretary. Following her retirement, she was curator of the Nodaway Valley Historical Museum. She thoroughly enjoyed researching the history of the area. Genealogy was another interest of Betty’s that she enjoyed pursuing.

Betty was an active person and belonged to many clubs in the Clarinda area including BPW, DAR, Semper Fidelis, Band Parents and PTA. She also was an active member of the First Christian Church. Betty and Henry loved to travel around the country until it became difficult for Betty to travel. Friends and family were important to Betty and she enjoyed visiting with friends.

Betty is survived by her husband, Henry Ankeny of Clarinda, Iowa; son, Steven Ankeny and wife Pat of New Castle, Indiana; daughter, Nancy Beattie and husband Keith of Clarinda, Iowa; six grandchildren, Cory McAlpin and wife Christine, David Ankeny, Philip Ankeny, Susan Smith and husband Gabriel, Angela Ankeny, Monica Dowd and husband Mike; five great grandchildren, Bryson McAlpin, Wyatt McAlpin, Rylie McAlpin, Allie Dowd and Nicole Dowd; sister, Helen Cherry of Perris, California.

Preceding Betty in death were her parents and granddaughter, Molly McAlpin.

May God grant comfort and strength to those who mourn Betty’s passing

Tribute from Pat O'Dell -

My friend and colleague Betty Ankeny has died. The obituary says that she was "age 78" but that is a mistake; Betty had no age, she was alive. I'm sure she had just as many interest and projects going on the day she died as the day I met her some 40 years prior. I don't remember exactly the first time I met Betty, but our shared interest in history and genealogy would naturally make our paths cross.

Although Betty was interested and involved in a number of groups, I knew most about the history and genealogy. We copied a number of cemeteries together; found and shared finds of old census, books, atlases, obituary collections, etc, etc. But Betty saw many bigger things to collect -- like buildings and other artifacts around the county. She was instrumental in gathering all that is displayed at the Nodaway Valley Historical Museum. Many people were involved in making this museum a reality, but Betty was the one who originally had the vision.

Many times we laughed about an incident of our "dangerous hobby." We had gone to the Hawleyville Cemetery to copy stones with clipboards, chalk, nylon veggie-brush and my two toddler kids. I was working to turn over a little white stone that was flush on the ground and when it finally flipped, we realized we had just knocked on the door of a bumble bee nest. We each grabbed a kid and ran. Neither of us cared about talking to mad bumble bees.

Betty and Barbara Hartman compiled and published the "Page of the Past" containing records of Page County. She then composed a column that ran in the Clarinda Herald-Journal newspaper with the same name and shared articles of interest, queries and other tidbits on genealogy and history of Page County. [This column was indexed in my Abstracted Newspaper Index.] She had been curator of the museum since it began. The Museum is a tribute to her ability to gather, organize and display materials for everyone to enjoy. I believe her success was in being a dreamer about what might be then bouncing ideas off of others and listening, and then the ability to call "a spade a spade" and get it done.

Betty had MS but it hardly seems worth mentioning. She did not dwell on it and it did not deter her from doing what she was going to do. It may have slowed down the time it took to get from here to there, but it didn't stop her from going. When someone at the Museum needed something, she didn't jump up and go get it but she could tell them "it's in the basement past those shelves on the east side under the box marked..." She had been there and she remembered where everything was. She graciously commented many times what a wonderful help her husband Henry was because he was there to move boxes and get down whatever she needed.

Betty's legacy, to me, was certainly her immense knowledge of Page County history and people and I'm afraid that she took part of that legacy with her--it was in her head. So many of us relied on the fact that we could find or learn something by "asking Betty." She knew the answers. We are going to miss her tremendously.