Services for Betty Ann Kitterman Philp
Tue, 07/26/2022 - 2:00pm
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Betty Ann Kitterman Philp went to be with her Lord and Savior passing peacefully at home with her family by her side on July 18th, 2022.
Visitation will be held on Thursday, July 28, 2022 from 5:00- 7:00 p.m. at the Cease Funeral Home in Bagley, MN with a family service to follow. A Celebration of Life will be held on Friday, July 29th, 2022 at 2:00 p.m. at the Clearwater Lutheran Church in Shevlin, MN with Pastor Jeremiah Holst officiating. The Family has requested bright colored Hawaiian shirts or flowered clothing to be worn in memory of Betty’s bright and colorful spirit of giving to and loving others. The Cease Family Funeral Home of Bagley assisted the family with arrangements.
Betty Ann Kitterman Philp was born May 23rd, 1947 in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Her parents, Jay and Margaret Kitterman raised her with great faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As a small child and through her high school years, Betty was very active in her church, Sunday School Youth Activities, Wednesday night suppers and fellowship at the First Baptist Church in Jonesboro, AR. She loved Psalm 23 at a very young age her grandmother, Miss Ruth “Ruthie” would read it to her and she memorized it quickly. Betty attended K-12 in Jonesboro, Nettleton Elementary, Anne Camp Junior High and Jonesboro High School, home of the Hurricanes. During her youth she was a member of Job’s Daughters and later Eastern Stars of the Masonic Order. She attended Girls State and graduated from JHS in 1966. Throughout her teen years she worked as a shoe sales woman and at her father’s, Jay Kitterman’s Men’s Clothing Store. After graduation Betty attended A State in Jonesboro, receiving her teaching degree.
Betty met her husband of 53 years, Lowell Dean Philp in 1968 while attending a dance at the Airmen’s Club in Blyville, AR. It wasn’t love at first sight, but he was persistent and grew on her. She loved Lowell (Phil) deeply and they were married 7 days after his honorable discharge from the U.S. Airforce on June 12, 1969 at the First Baptist Church in Jonesboro. They made their home in Jonesboro. Betty taught 2nd Grade at Nettleton Elementary and deeply cared for her students and made a fun, safe, and loving environment in her classroom. While Lowell attended A State and later became an Art Teacher at Lake City High School. They were both teaching when they welcomed their only child, daughter Ashley Jayne, into the world on Sept. 4, 1974. Betty was over the moon and would do anything for her daughter. She was an amazing mother and wife, and later mother-in-law and Nana.
Betty had also attended cosmetology school in AR and worked for Gail Harrison before moving to Minnesota in 1979 where her and Lowell made their home until the present day. After moving to MN, Betty would substitute teach, worked at the Hair Affair for Lyn Nicholas in Bemidji, and later opened her own Beauty Shop in Shevlin called the Hairline. She loved all her local, repeat clients and was home to raise her daughter, Ashley, while Lowell worked at Potlach. Her beauty shop was in business until 1993 when she retired. She would still travel to home bound people and nursing homes to volunteer her services. She never completely stopped working. She took a job as Supervisor of the Catalog department at J.C. Penny’s in Bemidji until August of 2000 when she started working at Security Bank USA in Bemidji until her retirement in 2014 due to her and her husband’s cancer diagnoses. That didn’t stop her. Betty would still fill in when needed at the bank and worked as a classroom aid at Bagley Elementary School.
Betty’s biggest love and excitement would be the summer trips to Arkansas to visit family. She looked forward to them all year. At least two weeks of every Summer would be spent with family and friends in the South. Family, faith, and friends were the very top of the list for Betty. Lowell, Ashley, Bria, Paityn, and Paul were her first and foremost priority behind God. Her granddaughters were the light of her life. The girls figured out at a young age to “just Ask Nana”. She was proud of the young women they had become. Nana will be forever proud of her girls.
Betty never sat still. He decorated for every holiday with matching outfits for the occasion, making flower arrangements or wreaths to give away, or whatever craft she was doing at the time. She was always involved with her community in Arkansas as a JC and housemother at a group home, church services, and in Minnesota at the Bagley American Legion Auxiliary, along with positions of District #9, backpack program of Clearwater County, wedding coordinator at Clearwater Lutheran Church, giving tree at Christmas for a family to have a special Christmas, Love Circle and the church choir. She was always planning something for someone. She welcomed everyone no matter what with her free spirited, nurturing, loving heart. She will be greatly missed, never forgotten for her quick wit, sense of humor, and love for everyone who crossed her path. She let her love flow.
Betty is survived by her husband of 53 years, Lowell D. Philp of Shevlin, MN; daughter, Ashley (Paul) Halvorson; granddaughters, Bria and Paityn Halvorson of Bagley, MN; sister, Shirley Rores of Bay, AR; brother, Jimmy Ledbetter of McMinnville, TN; sister-in-law, Helene Gesell of Bemidji, MN, Linda (Ike Fairbanks) Philp of Brainerd, MN, Bonnie (Jim) Kreck of Anoka, MN, and Mary Philp of Elk River, MN; brother-in-law, Genne Philp, Jr. of Bemidji, MN; great aunt, Ester Kitterman of Little Rock, AR; numerous nieces, nephews, great nieces, and great nephews; and many wonderful cousins, other family, and special friends.
Betty was preceded in death by her grandparents, Miss Ruth and Sol Kitterman; her parents, Jay and Margaret Kitternman; her in-laws, Genne and Ragna Philp; her uncle, Weldon Kitterman; her siblings, Francis, Mary, Susie, Doris, and James; her niece, Barbara; special cousin, Gregory Kitterman; and her biological parents, Inez Young and James Jack Herman.
Messages of condolence may be sent to ceasefuneralhome.com