Betty Jean Blomen Voyce Obit

BETTY JEAN BLOMEN VOYCE, 94, of Sartell, by way of Knoxville, IA and Deerwood, passed away on March 2, 2021 at Quiet Oaks Hospice House in St Augusta.
She was born in Deerwood to Edwin and Emma (Torgerson) Blomen on Aug. 13, 1926. She fondly recalled her childhood learning to drive her dad’s Model-T at 13 while her dad napped in the back seat, target shoot with her .22 rifle, fish, help repair boats, and clean cabins at her parent’s resort on Serpent Lake. Education, church (Salem Lutheran), music, community, family, and hard work imbued her values, all emphasized to her own kids. Laughter and tears were products of her Lake Wobegonesque tales of town and family characters. She was a thespian, artist, choir member and an A student.
She graduated from Crosby-Ironton High School in 1944. She attended the University of Minnesota, joined the Cadet Nurse Corps earning a diploma in nursing in 1948. On a clinical assignment for the Cadet Nurse Corps at the Fort Meade, South Dakota VA , she met Dale Wayne Voyce. They married in March, 1948 in Deerwood. In 1950 they moved their two young daughters from Deadwood, SD. to Dale’s hometown in Knoxville, IA. As their family added five more kids, Betty worked intermittently at the Knoxville VA in nursing education, mental health and part time at Collins Memorial Hospital. In 1964 she returned full time to VA working in both staff and management positions in acute, mental health and long-term care. She retired in 1986. To be closer to family she and Dale moved to Ames, IA in 2001. Dale passed in 2003. She joined Dawn and her husband in 2005 until 2011 when she joined Stef and husband in Sartell until present.
Betty passionately supported her children and grandchildren in their sports, academic and arts endeavors. She loved opera, music of the ‘40s, dancing with Dale, playing bridge and games with family, avidly reading, completing crosswords, gardening, cooking, designing and sewing “gram monsters” for her family, writing stories and anecdotes about her life. She is remembered for her kindly demeanor, droll sense of humor, descriptive storytelling, love of music, cinnamon rolls, love of her family and friends.
Betty was preceded in death by her parents, husband, and daughter Kim Russell of LeGrande, OR. She is survived by six children; Stephanie and Chuck Young of Sartell, Leslie and Joe Eberline of Deland, FL, Dawn Elizabeth and Paul Dendy of Vancouver, WA, Jon and Deb Voyce of Reno, NV, Mark and Melissa Voyce of Brownsdale and Kerry and Roger Lamp of Elk River, as well as 19 grandchildren, and 19 great-grandchildren living across the country and the world.
Betty’s cremains will be scattered by her children as requested. A celebration of life is planned on a date to be determined in July. Funeral arrangements were made by Benson Funeral Home, St. Cloud, MN.
A memorial has been established at the Quiet Oaks Hospice House in St Augusta.