Elizabeth "Betty" Hiebert 90th

HIEBERT 90th

Elizabeth “Betty” Hiebert celebrated her 90th birthday in Puget Sound, Wash., with family members. She was born Nov. 23, 1925, to Ethel and Jasen Johnson in South Dakota. She along with six siblings grew up on the farm there. Her father, prior to becoming a farmer, was a railroad engineer. She has one living sibling — her brother Dale, who is a retired Church of God pastor.

Betty met and married Glen DeForrest in 1945. They raised five children — Allen, a retired mechanical engineer, inventor and manufacturer of Bear Canisters; Kenneth, retired firefighter; Cheryl, of Portland, Ore.; Larry, retired electrician in the Puget Sound area; and Cindy, of Seattle, Wash. Betty has nine grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren.

Her mother died in 1948, and Betty prayed to God that she wanted to find the one true church. She didn't care which denomination. She and her husband were invited to attend some meetings held in a Quonset hut in Tacoma, Wash. She and Glen were baptized as Seventh-day Adventists in June 1948. The hymn "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus" has a special meaning to her.

Betty was widowed in 1969. She met and married Art Hiebert, who was raising four children and owned a logging company in Alaska. Together they owned and operated a day care and a senior foster home before retiring.

She has had various occupations, but her favorite was as a Bible worker for the church. She was asked to travel in 1993 to the capital city of Tomsk, located in the Siberia region of Russia.

She loves to study the Bible, actively teaches a Sabbath School class and leads a Spirit of Prophecy reading group. She was a member of the Gresham Church in Oregon for many years. She has lived at the Village Retirement Center in Gresham since 2004. She previously lived in South Dakota, Tacoma, Alaska and Milton-Freewater, Ore.

Her hobbies include quilting, gardening and hummingbird watching. The Village Church is blessed by her participation and membership.