Betty Voytilla

Betty Voytilla, 88, of Warren, MN, passed away on Sunday morning, July 25, 2021 at Woodside Village at Valley Senior Living on 42nd.

Betty Lorraine Wimpfheimer was born on October 12, 1932 on the family farm in rural Angus, MN, the tenth of ten children to Henry and Barbara (Love) Wimpfheimer. She was raised in rural Angus where she attended country school. Betty graduated from Warren High School in 1950. She married Vern Erickson on November 7, 1950 and they made their home in rural Warren. Vern died on April 21, 1963. On December 5, 1964, Betty married Larry Voytilla and they lived in rural Warren. Larry died on August 3, 1981. Over the years, Betty worked at the Good Samaritan Center in Warren, Oakland Park Nursing Home in Thief River Falls, MN and as a bookkeeper. She moved into Warren in 2018 and to Grand Forks in 2020.

She was a long time member of Alma Free Lutheran Church and life time member of the Argyle American Legion Auxiliary. Betty also sewed with the Alma Free Lutheran Church group, belonged to a Quilters Guild in Warren and bowled in league for many years in Warren.

Betty enjoyed sewing and made a lot of clothes for her children, did crocheting and painted oil paintings. She enjoyed visiting with her large family and friends.

Left to mourn her passing are her children; Delbert (Kathy) Erickson of Warren, MN, Pamela Jones of Grand Forks, ND, David Erickson of North Pole, AK, Robert Erickson of Warren, MN, Patricia (Rodney) Knutson of Mountain, ND, Janice (Todd) Darwin of Brule, WI, and Donald Voytilla of St. Francis, MN; siblings; Doris Erickson and Albert Wimpfheimer, and many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husbands, Vern and Larry; sons, Richard and James; grandsons, Nathan Erickson and Adrian Knutson; son-in-law, Terry Jones, and siblings, Emma Stobbe, Annie Langle, Edith Pederson, Edwin Wimpfheimer, Adeline Wimpfheimer, Alice Pederson, and Dorothy Halsa.

FUNERAL SERVICE: 10:30 AM on Friday, July 30, 2021 at Alma Free Lutheran Church in rural Argyle, MN.

A RECORDING MAY BE FOUND HERE: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1809950322517694

VISITATION: 5:00 – 7:00 PM on Thursday, July 29, 2021 at DuBore Funeral Home in Warren, MN and one our before services at the church on Friday.

INTERMENT: Alma Lutheran Cemetery, rural Argyle, MN

Betty Voytilla Eulogy

Betty Voytilla was a strong, quick-witted, country woman who valued the simple things in life most. She loved her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren above all things. Although she might not have said “I love you“ often, when she did, you knew she meant it deeply. She was always quick to show off pictures and speak of their accomplishments to anyone who would listen. She had a strong faith and love of God, and the Alma, Minnesota church community was a very important part of her life. She loved to tell stories about all the people she knew, and she’d always tell you those stories as if you knew the subjects of conversation as well as she did. She enjoyed and had a great talent for oil painting and quilting, and she shared those talents with the community, family, and friends. She lovingly made graduation quilts for many of her grandchildren while she was still able, and they will be forever treasured.

She loved instant sweet tea, candy and baked goods, juicy romance novels, and sarcasm (the latter being the only one she shared willingly). She valued the things she had and disliked wastefulness. She loved her farm and Alaska and talked about them both incessantly. She appreciated proper behavior - and she’d show you her disapproval of your actions that were otherwise with a quick tsk. She was a giver of big hugs, Avon products, and tube socks (whether you liked or wanted them or not), and was a child at heart, appreciating her collection of stuffed animals and dolls, as well as more recently, a good Snapchat filter. She was loved and will be missed by many.
 

Written by her granddaughter, Keeley Riskey