Ishpeming, MI - Betty P. Bannon, age 91, longtime Ishpeming resident, died Saturday morning, March 28, 2015 at the Eastwood Nursing Center in Negaunee, where she had resided for 10 months.

Betty Pauline Bannon was born in Ishpeming on October 25, 1923 to Oscar and Ebba (Conradsen) Oie, who were both children of Norwegian immigrants. Betty grew up in the Cleveland Location of Ishpeming, and many of her childhood playmates remained lifelong friends.

From a young age, Betty had aspired to become a nurse, but when she entered high school toward the end of the Depression, the economic climate of the country made her dream seem unlikely, so Betty enrolled in the commercial course of study. By the time she graduated from Ishpeming High School in 1941, her family's finances had improved, and nursing school became a possibility. However, since Betty had taken classes in typing, shorthand and bookkeeping rather than biology and chemistry, she graduated without the pre-requisites for nursing school. During the next school year, she worked at the Miner's Bank and went back to high school for a few hours each day, taking post-graduate courses in the sciences and other subjects that would get her accepted into nursing school.

In 1942, Betty entered St. Luke's School of Nursing in Chicago. While in training, she joined the U.S Cadet Nurse Corps, a government program designed to ease a national nursing shortage during World War II. Betty received financial assistance for books and uniforms in exchange for a commitment to participate in the Cadet Corps for the duration of the war. She was assigned to the Vaughan Army Hospital outside of Chicago. Betty graduated from St. Luke's just as the war ended in 1945, passed her state board exams soon after, and began working as a registered nurse at Bell Memorial Hospital in Ishpeming.

Upon her return to Ishpeming, she became reacquainted with a Negaunee fellow she had known casually in high school--Charles Bannon, recently returned to the U.P. after his WWII Navy service in the South Pacific. Betty Oie and Charles Bannon were married at the Trinity Lutheran Church on August 17, 1946. Betty continued her nursing career at Bell until she and her husband moved to Marquette. In 1947, they welcomed their first daughter, Bryn, and after a move to Escanaba, where a son, Kevin was born, they returned to Ishpeming. Betty resumed her nursing career, working sporadically between the births of three more children--Jolie, Heidi and Tain.

In 1968, a fall left her with one ankle broken and one sprained, ending her professional nursing career. For the next thirty or more years, however, she remained a nurse and caregiver for extended family. If someone needed a shot, she was at the ready with her hypodermic syringe. She tended an aging and childless sister-in-law, a cousin and an aunt in their final years, as well as her husband, Charles after his Parkinson's diagnosis.

Betty was an industrious, hardworking mother, whose "hobbies" were of a decidedly practical nature. She and Charles planted a backyard garden that grew ever larger each year, producing a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. Her girls grew up wearing clothing that was sewn on her circa 1950 Singer sewing machine. Betty's knitting skills resulted in sweaters, afghans, hats, countless mittens and an occasional pair of socks. She found time to serve as a Girl Scout leader and a Cub Scout Den Mother for her children's troops.

Throughout her life, Betty devoted much time and effort to the Trinity Lutheran Church, where she had been baptized, confirmed and married. Over the years, she served on the church council, altar guild, women's group, quilters, and was a fixture at the monthly soup luncheons.

In their middle years, Betty and Charles began to do some traveling that they had been unable to do while raising a family. They enjoyed going to reunions of the national P.T. Boat veterans organization, held annually at various locations throughout the country. In 1981, they were joined on a trip to Norway by Betty's mother, Ebba, meeting relatives and visiting "Storholmen," the island homestead that Ebba's parents had left when they emigrated to America. Betty once again traveled to Norway in 2002, this time in the company of her grown children. While in their mid-eighties, she and her sister Shirley traveled with a tour group to Great Britain.

Betty is survived by four children: Bryn (Michael) Smith of Marquette; Kevin (Rebecca) Bannon of Ishpeming; Jolie (Peter) Dzanbozoff of Gladstone; and Heidi (Floyd) Johns of Negaunee; a sister, Shirley Mattson of Ishpeming; 12 grandchildren: Amanda (Andrew) Stroth; Ben (Michelle) Smith; Erin Bannon Pool; Ryan (Christine) Bannon; Bryanne (John) Herendeen; Gretchen Richardson; Jason Williams; Conrad Dzanbozoff; Mariah (Robert) Lee; Rebecca Johns; Janelle (Nate) Kapa; and Kelsey Johns. Also 17 great-grandchildren: Monroe, Jackson and Avery Stroth; Zoe, Lexi, Kylie and Marley Smith; Isabelle and Emma Pool; Brayden Williams; Teegan and Tannon Williams; Kameryn Dzanbozoff; Robert Lee; Olivia Miller; Charles J. and Lilia Kapa. Also several nieces and nephews survive.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Charles and son Tain, both in 2000, a sister, Merle Weingartner, and a number of sisters- and brothers-in-law.

After her passing, Betty's grandchildren were asked what words they'd use to describe her. Kind. Thoughtful. Stable. Steadfast. Selfless. Role model. Practical. Stoic. Strong. Sharp. Leader. Quiet strength. Never complaining. Quintessential church lady. Pretty incredible. The McGyver of chicken pot pie. Her son called her a "tough old Viking."

Visitation will be at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Ishpeming on Wednesday, April 1, 2015 from 2:00 p.m. until the time of services at 4:00 p.m., with the Rev. Kenneth Lahners officiating. Friends and relatives are invited to join the family afterward for a meal in the church parlors. Betty's grandchildren will serve as pallbearers, and internment will be in the Ishpeming Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the Trinity Lutheran Church of Ishpeming.

The family wishes to thank the staff of the Eastwood Nursing Center for their care of Betty during her time there.

The funeral service recording, when it becomes available, can be found here .