Betty L. Chambers

Obituary: Betty LaBelle (Walz) Chambers
Betty LaBelle (Walz) Chambers was born on May 30, 1929, near Alexandria, SD, the daughter of Charles F. and LaVerna M. (Sheldon) Walz. She entered into rest on Thursday, January 31, 2013, at Aldersgate Village, Topeka, KS.
She attended grade school at Milltown, SD, and high school at Mitchell, SD, and Huntington, IN. She attended two years of college at Huntington College, in Huntington, IN, and also took summer courses at Benedictine College in Atchison, KS. She taught school for two years at a rural school near Colby and for two years at a rural school near Milltown, her home town.
She married John E. Chambers on July 1, 1952, at Sabetha. Her father, the Rev. Charles Walz, performed the ceremony. Shortly after their wedding, the couple moved to Milltown, where they both taught rural schools for the next year, and then moved to Mitchell, SD, where John went to work over four years for the Mitchell Daily Republic as a reporter-photographer.
They became the parents of five children, all of whom survive: Brenda J. Zimmerman (Noel), Topeka; Steven W. Chambers (Beverly Huddleston), Topeka; Bobbi Sue Gardner (Danny), Jacksonville, FL; Sandra L. Reinhart, Jefferson City, MO; and Stuart Kent Chambers (Julie Novak), Smithville, MO. Also surviving are 12 grandchildren. Betty was preceded in death by two grandchildren, Steven Nathaniel Chambers and Nathan Daniel Reinhart.
The couple returned from South Dakota to Huntington, IN, where John worked for his hometown newspaper for a year, then they moved to the Marion, IN, area, living at Swayzee, when John went to work for the Leader-Tribune newspaper in Marion. After 12 years they moved to Pocatello, ID, where John became the city editor for the Idaho State Journal. They lived at Sabetha briefly and then moved to a "minifarm" near Holton for seven years. Then they moved to Topeka where John completed his newspaper career and retired. Betty performed with the William Jewel Caledoian Pipe Band and the Pipers of the Plain Pipe Band.
Betty and John became involved in the recent effort to develop North Topeka, and Betty was the co-founder and first president of the North Topeka on the Move Association. She also helped to start the modern version of the Historic North Topeka Parade and served as its first chairman.
Betty loved flowers, flower shrubs and the landscaping of a Victorian house she and John bought in North Topeka. She also helped to develop a small private park in six vacant lots they bought across the alley behind their house. Park LaBelle was named for Betty's middle name, and the land was given to Betty as a 50th wedding anniversary present. Later the couple built a home on those six lots.
During much of their married life, Betty and John were active in church work in United Brethren in Christ and Wesleyan churches. She taught Sunday school and was a church co-treasurer with her husband. She also was a former member of North Topeka Kiwanis Club and Sunrise Optimist Club, and had worked in ticket sales at Heartland Park.
Funeral services will be at 1:00 PM, Saturday, February 9, 2013, at Penwell-Gabel Parker-Price Chapel, 245 NW Independence Ave., Topeka, Kansas. Interment in Rochester Cemetery. Betty will lie in state after 3:00 PM, Friday, at the funeral chapel where the family will receive friends from 5:30 to 7:30 PM. Memorial contributions may be made to Midland Hospice, 200 SW Frazier Circle, Topeka, KS 66606-2800 or the Alzheimer's Association, 4125 SW Gage Center Dr., Ste LL-15,. Topeka, KS 66604.