Betty Joan Coon, 86, Rapid City, died Thursday, January 12, 2012 at Rapid City Regional Hospital. She was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on December 29, 1925. She moved to Spokane, Washington with her parents at a young age and later graduated from Lewis and Clark High School. In 1943, she married Robert N. Coon. While he served in the Air Force during WWII, she worked for the U. S. Government during the day and volunteered for the Red Cross as a nurses aide in the evenings. After the war she and Bob moved to Rapid City to make their home and start a family. They raised two lovely daughters, Kathy (King), and Claudia (Douglas). Betty continued to work part-time and attended college at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and Black Hills State University receiving a BS in Sociology and Psychology. She was a Licensed Social Worker Associate, Hospice Volunteer, past Girls Club Board member, past Secretary and President of the Rapid City Regional Hospital Auxiliary, Board member of the Black Hills Arthritis Association, Support Group Facilitator and Self Help Leader, Member International Honorary Society of the Social Services, Member of the Statewide Independent Living Council, member of Western Resources for Dis-Abled Independence Board, Daughters of the Nile, Current Events Club (est. 1895), AAUW member, and St. Andrews Episcopal Church. In her spare time, Betty loved to paint with watercolors. Her artwork is an amazing testimony to her creativity and talent despite battling severe arthritis in her hands. Betty was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She is survived by her husband Robert; daughter, Claudia Douglas; two grandsons: Tyler and Travis King; and six great-grandchildren: Marisa, Kylee, Kaitlyn, Connor, Karley, and Megan, all of Rapid City. She was preceded in death by her daughter, Kathy King. Memorial services will be at 10:30 a.m. Monday, Jan. 16, at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church with the Rev. Kathy Monson Lutes and the Rev. Deacon Virginia Bird officiating. Inurnment be at Black Hills National Cemetery near Sturgis. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed towards the AAUW Scholarship fund, St. Andrews Episcopal Church, the Black Hills Arthritis Association, Western Resources for Dis-Abled Independence, or the charity of your choice.