Betty peacefully went to be with her Heavenly Father at Peace Hospice at the age of 94. She was born on July 28, 1929, in Great Falls, MT and graduated from Great Falls High School. Upon graduation her parents, Harold and Mildred Turner, moved to California, taking Betty. She returned to Great Falls and married Arthur Hajek. Arthur, his father, and brother, Vince, all worked on building the family home and piano shop on the Westside.
Arthur and Betty started a family and were blessed with Vicki, Linda, Wendy, and Kenneth. Betty loved being able to stay home being a wife, mother, and homemaker. She loved cooking and baking from scratch. She liked being a home room mother at Russell Elementary School, a Sunday school teacher at Fist Presbyterian Church, going out to dance, school reunions, and travelling. They owned Hajek’s Piano Shop until the flood of 1964.
Betty had a real sense of fashion and ended up going to work at the Montgomery Ward store downtown, with the beautiful oak stairway and oak cashier cages. She transferred to the new store in Holiday Village and continued to work in the fashion department under the direction of Vi Erlandson. Eventually Betty was promoted to manager of the lingerie department. She and Arthur eventually divorced but remained friends.
In her next chapter of life, she eventually met George Higgins. They dated for quite some time and both eventually put in for transfers to Whitefish, MT. They married in 1980 and enjoyed the beauty of the area. George planted an orchard and large garden. They enjoyed the bounty of their labor and skills. Canning pears, apricots, cherries, peaches, and apples.
George and Betty eventually moved back to Great Falls in 2014. George passed in 2018. Betty is survived by daughter, Wendy Gray (husband, Robert Olmstead); daughter, Linda Roloson; grandkids, Melissa Alder (Dan), Aimee Buller, Adam Gray, Eric Gray, Spencer Roloson, and Serena Roloson; and great-grandkids, Nathan Anderson and Tayven Roloson.
To read the complete obituary and share condolences, click here to visit the Schnider Funeral Home website.
