Pending Service date and time.

Elizabeth "Betsy" Camilla Land Best

Born 9/28/1930 in Dupree, SD to Frances and Yerby Land.

Third of 6 children:                    Yerby Land Jr. 4/28/1927

Marian Frances Land Ferguson 7/29/1928

Betsy

Eveleth Joy Land Getty 2/19/1933

Gary Andrew Land 8/28/1939

Dixie Land Juhlin 11/20/1941

The family lived on a sheep ranch on the Moreau River much of her childhood then moved to Spearfish, Rapid City and Wasta. While they were in Wasta Betsy's father passed away in 1947 and her mother moved the family to Wall where she owned and ran the Wigwam Café.

Betsy attended South Dakota State College in Brookings for one year then returned to teach school at the Wasta one-room school where she taught all grades. She had graduated from the same school only one year earlier. One day she was trying to find a ride to Wall and someone suggested that she check with Glenn Best as he was returning to Wall in his oil company truck. They did not immediately begin to date, but had caught each other's eye.

Betsy and Glenn were married on August 11, 1950 in Rapid City. Betsy worked at the telephone company and Glenn became a Pennington County Deputy Sheriff. After Glenn won the election to become the Sheriff of Pennington County Betsy acted as Jailer and did all the cooking and laundry for the prisoners in the county jail. Glenn, Betsy and Wende lived in the jailer's apartment in the jail itself for 2 years.

Betsy and Glenn had 3 children: Wende Best (Englewood, CO), Barry Best (Englewood, CO) and Leslee Best Wallis (Rapid City, SD). They had 4 grandchildren: Kyrie Encinas, Elizabeth Wallis Franz, Taylor Wallis and Michael Best. They had 9 great-grandchildren at the time of Betsy's passing: Lauren Zepeda, Isabella Encinas, Dallin Encinas, Lillian Hostetler, Trey Hostetler, Soren Franz, Storm Best, Enoch Franz and Jensen Dowdy.

Betsy was an active parent and was an adult leader for many organizations including Brownies, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, PTA, Job's Daughters and DeMolay. She was known to be a hostess extraordinaire and entertained often…neighborhood and family groups, Masonic organization groups as well as business groups for Glenn. She was a peace maker and avoided conflict whenever possible. She saw the best in everyone around her. She was a very beloved aunt to her many nieces and nephews on both the Land and Best sides of the family. Her best friend for much of her married life was her sister-in-law, Donna Best O'Neill, who she mourned greatly after Donna's passing. She and her 5 siblings were very close and gathered together from around the country whenever possible. Family reunions were held regularly with both the Best and Land clans…sometimes together.

Betsy loved to sing, but could not carry a tune. When she was a child her siblings would tease her about her poor singing voice so she would climb up on the back side roof of the outhouse and sing her heart out. She figured that if they couldn't see her they couldn't hear her either! As an adult Glenn would sometimes lean down and whisper "don't sing too loud, Betsy" when they were in church. After Glenn passed and she could no longer live unassisted she would often break into song…sometimes alone and sometimes with others. Leslee would sing with her often and to the delight of the residents and staff at her nursing home. Some of the words might not have been correct, but the love of the song was there. She would sing "God Bless America", "You are my Sunshine", "Baa Baa Black Sheep", "Mary had a little lamb" and others.

Betsy was a Patriot and would often ask if the world was at peace. She worried about war and what it would mean to the country and her family. She often told us that we were lucky to be Americans.

Betsy and her siblings would tell stories whenever they were together and she was fond of telling how her older brother, "Junior", saved her life. She was either crossing or playing in the Moreau River when she lost her footing and went down. Yerby Junior grabbed her by her hair and pulled her out! The family had a working sheep dog…Bobby…who was also the family pet. Betsy loved to watch her father and their hired man work the sheep with Bobby who was trained in both voice and hand signals. The children shared a horse named Snooks. Often there would be more than one or two of the Land kids on his back.

Betsy was active in the Order of the Eastern Star being initiated into Golden Link #14 of Rapid City on . She served as Worthy Matron in and Grand Adah for the state of South Dakota in .

After the children were grown Betsy worked for the March of Dimes as one of two paid employees in SD and then as Travel Coordinator for the Naja Shrine in Rapid City. Glenn transported many, many children to various Shrine hospitals over the years and Betsy handled the travel arrangements for patients from the region for several years.

At their 50 ^th Wedding Anniversary Celebration Glenn dedicated the song "Wind Beneath My Wings" to Betsy and she truly was his greatest advocate. She was the quiet strength supporting him as well as the rest of her family.

Betsy was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Glenn, her brother Yerby, her sisters Marian and Dixie as well as a niece, three nephews, and many in-laws.