Betty Ruth Hoyt Benson, 90, passed away Tuesday, September 16, 2014 at Mary Greeley Medical Center in Ames. A funeral service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, September 20, 2014 at First Evangelical Free Church, 2008 24th Street. Visitation will be held prior to the service beginning at 9 a.m. at the same location. Burial to follow the service at Ames Municipal Cemetery.
Betty was born November 14, 1923 in Perry, Iowa, the daughter of Leonard Freeman Hoyt and Zeriuah Ethel (Ewing) Hoyt. She graduated from Boone High School in 1942 and attended Iowa State University. Betty married Robert John Benson on September 15, 1946 in Boone. She worked as a secretary for the Iowa DOT and for WOI radio and television at Iowa State University, from which she retired after twenty years of service.
Betty was on the Board of Directors of Northcrest Retirement Community for six years and was secretary to the board for twelve years. She was a member of the ISU Women's Club, the T.T.T. Society, the Boone County Historical Society, and the Iowa Genealogical Society. In her free time, Betty enjoyed quilting, stamp & coin collecting, and genealogical research. She researched through almost every state as well as Sweden and Scotland to collect genealogical records long before the Internet existed. She was a member of Ames First Baptist Church for many years and later a member of the First Evangelical Free Church.
Survivors include one daughter, Ruthann Elaine Benson of La Crosse, WI, one son, Steven Robert (Catherine) Benson of Bettendorf, IA, three grandchildren: Michael (Heather) Miars of Duluth, Georgia, Morgan Benson and Blake Benson both of Bettendorf, Iowa and five great grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Robert (2012) and by her mother, father, brother, Robert Hoyt, sisters Lenore Meyers and Naomi June Walker.
In lieu of flowers the family asks that memorial contributions be made to the First Evangelical Free Church or Northcrest Retirement Community.
On line condolences may be directed to: www.grandonfuneralandcremationcare.com