Betty Rose Lorts-Randall

Betty Rose Lorts-Randall was born to Herbert A. and Edna Milton Robertson in Clarenton, Virginia on May 1, 1927, their only child. She passed away peacefully in the early morning hours of May 11, 2023 at age 96.

During World War II, she began working as a secretary at age sixteen while finishing high school. In recent years she would smile when remembering that she took a bus past the Pentagon daily and saw a platoon of women Marines marching to and from work. She laughed at the memory of her thoughts as a teenager, when she considered joining the Marines because she liked the women’s uniforms and how well they marched.

Just after the war, Betty came to visit a cousin in Oregon. She fell in love with the Pacific Northwest and moved here in her early 20s, raising her four children in Portland. She worked as a secretary at the US Bureau of Land Management, for the most part in Portland, and for the last several years in Denver, Colorado. She retired in 1979, and has lived in Netarts, Oregon ever since.

Her kids remember taking the train from Oregon to Virginia when all of them were a young swarm. Betty was nervous about the train’s stops at various cities across the country, fearing that one of the kids might decide to get off and she would lose them. But they survived the journey together and intact.

Betty loved bowling, which she began in her early teens and never stopped until recently. In her late 70s, she started to golf and continued playing with friends until she was 92 when the golf course closed. Her primary interest was taking care of her family: her kids, grandkids, and great grandkids. She was a very sociable person, full of laughter and goodwill, enjoying people immensely, entertaining family and friends in her home, and getting out and about. Also, she loved working in her yard, which was always aglow with shrubs, flowers, and hanging planters. Every spring her bird houses were fully occupied with swooping, soaring families of swallows.

Betty is survived by daughters Donna (Bob, son in law) Buchanan of Damascus, Oregon, Susan Taylor of Cloverdale, Oregon, and son Bart Popham of Lincoln City. Her oldest son, Carl, passed away several years ago. Her family will hold a private gathering to honor and celebrate Betty’s life.