Betty Gunn Eschenburg passed away Tuesday, January 15, 2013 at the Crest Nursing Home.
Cremation has taken place and no services are planned at this time.∼Wayrynen-Richards Funeral Home:
Betty Gunn Eschenburg passed away on the evening of Jan. 15, 2013, of natural causes in the Crest Nursing Home in Butte. She was 90 years old.
Irene Elizabeth "Betty" Gunn was born in Helena on March 15, 1922, to Milton and Irene Gunn. Betty was raised in Helena and her adventurous, indomitable spirit was evident early in life. In the summer of 1940, at the age of 19, she was one of only three Helena young women who signed up for military type aviation training at the Helena Regional Airport. She soloed in a Stearman open cockpit bi-plane and earned her pilot's license later that summer. Her bold spirit was matched with a little mischievous streak, and Betty told flying stories of buzzing her father on the golf course and friends in their cars driving down the highway. After graduating from Helena High School, Betty attended Scripps College in California, then Stanford University (where she also joined the Stanford flying club).
In 1943, Betty married Emil Eschenburg, a young Army officer whom she met while he was training with the First Special Service Force at Fort William Henry Harrison. After Emil returned from WWII duty, Betty went on to have and raise a family of four children as well as take on the mounting duties of a career officer's wife (Emil rose to the rank of brigadier general). Betty's "Army life" included all the day-to-day and year-to-year sacrifices of an Army wife, running the household, volunteering, planning and attending social events and moving on average every two to three (to include assignments to France and Ethiopia) years. Every day turned out to be a domestic or travel adventure to be taken on with humor and an adventurous spirit. At one Army post, Betty was seen swinging from a tree house rope by the ranking general's wife (she had seen the kids doing it and wanted to try). She fearlessly took on domestic life and travel in France with the French she remembered from school. In Ethiopia, she took the family on hunting and camping adventures, fed wild hyenas by hand outside the historic walled city of Harar and met with Emperor Haile Salassie with her family. There was no "routine." With devotion to her family, Betty took on the twists and turns of domestic challenges and opportunities for adventure as they came.
In 1979, Betty boldly and independently pressed on with her dream of a log house on acres of property (she once told a friend "make the down payment and miracles will happen"). She chose a 20-acre plot a few miles north of Helena, then in true Montana "don't fence me in" fashion, bought 40 more acres so any neighbors wouldn't crowd her. On her ranchette, she took loving care of her dogs, cats and horses (both Morgan and Fjord horses) and relished the visits of her four children and their families. Even into her 70s, Betty drove her Morgans and Fjords in carriage driving competitions and events, including driving her Fjords over the Continental Divide with the "Ten Mile Driving Club" at age 75. Even more impressive, during this same time she battled the effects of Parkinson's disease and macular degeneration (to the very evening she passed away).
Betty was preceded in death by her one brother, Phil, who passed away in November 2011. Betty is survived by her four children, Paula Scott of Butte, Paul Eschenburg of Plymouth, Mich., Erich Eschenburg of Fairfax Station, Va., and Lise Harrison of Boise, Idaho. She is also survived by seven grandchildren who hopefully inherited her intrepid, independent Montana spirit.
Cremation has taken place and no services are planned at this time.∼Wayrynen-Richards Funeral Home:
Betty Gunn Eschenburg passed away on the evening of Jan. 15, 2013, of natural causes in the Crest Nursing Home in Butte. She was 90 years old.
Irene Elizabeth "Betty" Gunn was born in Helena on March 15, 1922, to Milton and Irene Gunn. Betty was raised in Helena and her adventurous, indomitable spirit was evident early in life. In the summer of 1940, at the age of 19, she was one of only three Helena young women who signed up for military type aviation training at the Helena Regional Airport. She soloed in a Stearman open cockpit bi-plane and earned her pilot's license later that summer. Her bold spirit was matched with a little mischievous streak, and Betty told flying stories of buzzing her father on the golf course and friends in their cars driving down the highway. After graduating from Helena High School, Betty attended Scripps College in California, then Stanford University (where she also joined the Stanford flying club).
In 1943, Betty married Emil Eschenburg, a young Army officer whom she met while he was training with the First Special Service Force at Fort William Henry Harrison. After Emil returned from WWII duty, Betty went on to have and raise a family of four children as well as take on the mounting duties of a career officer's wife (Emil rose to the rank of brigadier general). Betty's "Army life" included all the day-to-day and year-to-year sacrifices of an Army wife, running the household, volunteering, planning and attending social events and moving on average every two to three (to include assignments to France and Ethiopia) years. Every day turned out to be a domestic or travel adventure to be taken on with humor and an adventurous spirit. At one Army post, Betty was seen swinging from a tree house rope by the ranking general's wife (she had seen the kids doing it and wanted to try). She fearlessly took on domestic life and travel in France with the French she remembered from school. In Ethiopia, she took the family on hunting and camping adventures, fed wild hyenas by hand outside the historic walled city of Harar and met with Emperor Haile Salassie with her family. There was no "routine." With devotion to her family, Betty took on the twists and turns of domestic challenges and opportunities for adventure as they came.
In 1979, Betty boldly and independently pressed on with her dream of a log house on acres of property (she once told a friend "make the down payment and miracles will happen"). She chose a 20-acre plot a few miles north of Helena, then in true Montana "don't fence me in" fashion, bought 40 more acres so any neighbors wouldn't crowd her. On her ranchette, she took loving care of her dogs, cats and horses (both Morgan and Fjord horses) and relished the visits of her four children and their families. Even into her 70s, Betty drove her Morgans and Fjords in carriage driving competitions and events, including driving her Fjords over the Continental Divide with the "Ten Mile Driving Club" at age 75. Even more impressive, during this same time she battled the effects of Parkinson's disease and macular degeneration (to the very evening she passed away).
Betty was preceded in death by her one brother, Phil, who passed away in November 2011. Betty is survived by her four children, Paula Scott of Butte, Paul Eschenburg of Plymouth, Mich., Erich Eschenburg of Fairfax Station, Va., and Lise Harrison of Boise, Idaho. She is also survived by seven grandchildren who hopefully inherited her intrepid, independent Montana spirit.
Betty Gunn Eschenburg passed away Tuesday, January 15, 2013 at the Crest Nursing Home.
Cremation has taken place and no services are planned at this time.∼Wayrynen-Richards Funeral Home:
Betty Gunn Eschenburg passed away on the evening of Jan. 15, 2013, of natural causes in the Crest Nursing Home in Butte. She was 90 years old.
Irene Elizabeth "Betty" Gunn was born in Helena on March 15, 1922, to Milton and Irene Gunn. Betty was raised in Helena and her adventurous, indomitable spirit was evident early in life. In the summer of 1940, at the age of 19, she was one of only three Helena young women who signed up for military type aviation training at the Helena Regional Airport. She soloed in a Stearman open cockpit bi-plane and earned her pilot's license later that summer. Her bold spirit was matched with a little mischievous streak, and Betty told flying stories of buzzing her father on the golf course and friends in their cars driving down the highway. After graduating from Helena High School, Betty attended Scripps College in California, then Stanford University (where she also joined the Stanford flying club).
In 1943, Betty married Emil Eschenburg, a young Army officer whom she met while he was training with the First Special Service Force at Fort William Henry Harrison. After Emil returned from WWII duty, Betty went on to have and raise a family of four children as well as take on the mounting duties of a career officer's wife (Emil rose to the rank of brigadier general). Betty's "Army life" included all the day-to-day and year-to-year sacrifices of an Army wife, running the household, volunteering, planning and attending social events and moving on average every two to three (to include assignments to France and Ethiopia) years. Every day turned out to be a domestic or travel adventure to be taken on with humor and an adventurous spirit. At one Army post, Betty was seen swinging from a tree house rope by the ranking general's wife (she had seen the kids doing it and wanted to try). She fearlessly took on domestic life and travel in France with the French she remembered from school. In Ethiopia, she took the family on hunting and camping adventures, fed wild hyenas by hand outside the historic walled city of Harar and met with Emperor Haile Salassie with her family. There was no "routine." With devotion to her family, Betty took on the twists and turns of domestic challenges and opportunities for adventure as they came.
In 1979, Betty boldly and independently pressed on with her dream of a log house on acres of property (she once told a friend "make the down payment and miracles will happen"). She chose a 20-acre plot a few miles north of Helena, then in true Montana "don't fence me in" fashion, bought 40 more acres so any neighbors wouldn't crowd her. On her ranchette, she took loving care of her dogs, cats and horses (both Morgan and Fjord horses) and relished the visits of her four children and their families. Even into her 70s, Betty drove her Morgans and Fjords in carriage driving competitions and events, including driving her Fjords over the Continental Divide with the "Ten Mile Driving Club" at age 75. Even more impressive, during this same time she battled the effects of Parkinson's disease and macular degeneration (to the very evening she passed away).
Betty was preceded in death by her one brother, Phil, who passed away in November 2011. Betty is survived by her four children, Paula Scott of Butte, Paul Eschenburg of Plymouth, Mich., Erich Eschenburg of Fairfax Station, Va., and Lise Harrison of Boise, Idaho. She is also survived by seven grandchildren who hopefully inherited her intrepid, independent Montana spirit.
Cremation has taken place and no services are planned at this time.∼Wayrynen-Richards Funeral Home:
Betty Gunn Eschenburg passed away on the evening of Jan. 15, 2013, of natural causes in the Crest Nursing Home in Butte. She was 90 years old.
Irene Elizabeth "Betty" Gunn was born in Helena on March 15, 1922, to Milton and Irene Gunn. Betty was raised in Helena and her adventurous, indomitable spirit was evident early in life. In the summer of 1940, at the age of 19, she was one of only three Helena young women who signed up for military type aviation training at the Helena Regional Airport. She soloed in a Stearman open cockpit bi-plane and earned her pilot's license later that summer. Her bold spirit was matched with a little mischievous streak, and Betty told flying stories of buzzing her father on the golf course and friends in their cars driving down the highway. After graduating from Helena High School, Betty attended Scripps College in California, then Stanford University (where she also joined the Stanford flying club).
In 1943, Betty married Emil Eschenburg, a young Army officer whom she met while he was training with the First Special Service Force at Fort William Henry Harrison. After Emil returned from WWII duty, Betty went on to have and raise a family of four children as well as take on the mounting duties of a career officer's wife (Emil rose to the rank of brigadier general). Betty's "Army life" included all the day-to-day and year-to-year sacrifices of an Army wife, running the household, volunteering, planning and attending social events and moving on average every two to three (to include assignments to France and Ethiopia) years. Every day turned out to be a domestic or travel adventure to be taken on with humor and an adventurous spirit. At one Army post, Betty was seen swinging from a tree house rope by the ranking general's wife (she had seen the kids doing it and wanted to try). She fearlessly took on domestic life and travel in France with the French she remembered from school. In Ethiopia, she took the family on hunting and camping adventures, fed wild hyenas by hand outside the historic walled city of Harar and met with Emperor Haile Salassie with her family. There was no "routine." With devotion to her family, Betty took on the twists and turns of domestic challenges and opportunities for adventure as they came.
In 1979, Betty boldly and independently pressed on with her dream of a log house on acres of property (she once told a friend "make the down payment and miracles will happen"). She chose a 20-acre plot a few miles north of Helena, then in true Montana "don't fence me in" fashion, bought 40 more acres so any neighbors wouldn't crowd her. On her ranchette, she took loving care of her dogs, cats and horses (both Morgan and Fjord horses) and relished the visits of her four children and their families. Even into her 70s, Betty drove her Morgans and Fjords in carriage driving competitions and events, including driving her Fjords over the Continental Divide with the "Ten Mile Driving Club" at age 75. Even more impressive, during this same time she battled the effects of Parkinson's disease and macular degeneration (to the very evening she passed away).
Betty was preceded in death by her one brother, Phil, who passed away in November 2011. Betty is survived by her four children, Paula Scott of Butte, Paul Eschenburg of Plymouth, Mich., Erich Eschenburg of Fairfax Station, Va., and Lise Harrison of Boise, Idaho. She is also survived by seven grandchildren who hopefully inherited her intrepid, independent Montana spirit.
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