Betty A. Liimatta

BETTY A. LIIMATTA 4/28/1924 - 7/6/2014 Betty Liimatta was born on April 28, 1924 in Walker, MN, to parents Albin and Mabel Ekblad. She was the third of four children. When she was 15 years old, her parents bought the Ekblad Grocery in Menahga, MN. and the family moved to Menahga. Betty met her future husband, Cliff Liimatta, when she was just sixteen. Betty was an artist, and her beautiful pencil drawings were mostly of movie stars or celebrities. She was recruited by an art school in Minneapolis, but was unable to attend. When Betty graduated from Menahga High School in 1942, she took the train to Oakland, California, where she worked as an Electrician's helper in the shipyards during World War II. She stayed in California for about a year before traveling to the east coast. She came back to Menahga when she was twenty years old, and Cliff and Betty were married on June 24, 1944. Cliff and Betty resided with Cliff's parents at the Liimatta farm west of Menahga for the first two years of their marriage. While there, Betty helped with the younger Liimatta children and the farm work while Cliff worked in the logging business. After that, they bought a home and 80 acres of land in Menahga, which became their permanent home. During a winter when the logging business was slow, they moved to Butte, Montana so Cliff could work in the copper mines. Betty worked cleaning apartments. They moved back to their Menahga home the following spring, when the logging industry improved. Their only child, Roxanne Kay, was born in 1952. Betty was a homemaker and community volunteer most of her life. She had an extremely active role as a mother and as a caregiver to others. Betty volunteered at the nursing home in Menahga for twenty-five years. She worked as a volunteer at the Menahga Museum for eight years. Betty maintained beautiful flower gardens in summer as well as a vegetable garden. She sewed clothing for family and friends, including items for special events. She also knit and crocheted hundreds of items over the years, most of which she gave away as gifts. Betty enjoyed collecting beautiful glassware, especially teapots. She took many of the community education classes offered, including learning to read, write and speak the Finnish language. She was ambitious and energetic and her well maintained home and property reflected that. Betty also loved to swim and put in a lot of "beach time" with her daughter, friends and relatives. She loved music and going out dancing with Cliff and their many friends. She and Cliff traveled regularly and made two trips to Finland in the 1980s. Betty loved the outdoors, animals and nature. She enjoyed living on the eighty acres where she was often visited by wildlife. Pets that ventured onto her property never left hungry. Nor did her family or friends! She liked to entertain at her home, making great home cooked meals and delicious baked goods. After 62 years of marriage, Cliff passed away in 2006. Betty remained in her home for three years. She then moved to an apartment at Woodside Manor in Menahga in 2009, followed by a move to Green Pine Acres Nursing Home in December 2011, where she died peacefully on July 6, 2014. Betty is survived by her daughter, Roxanne Lindberg and son-in-law, Alan Lindberg of New Brighton, MN, Cliff's two remaining sisters, Arlene Rasmussen of Minneapolis and Bonnie Kohley of Michigan, her lifelong friend, Lorraine Jacob of Menahga and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, sisters Eva Town (Park Rapids MN), Lona Soltesz (Butte, MT) and one brother, Albin Ekblad, Jr. - "Bill" (Great Falls, MT).