Betty Lou Greiner

Betty Lou Greiner was the only daughter of Fred and Lura smith. She was born in Ellensburg WA Nov 10th, 1917.

Her dad was a railroad inspector so their early years were spent in remote railroad towns such as Cochran and Timber, OR

When she and her brother, Fredrick,reached school age the family moved to SE Portland where she later attended Franklin High School.

She met Merlin Greiner and they married in 1938.  In 1940 they bought a home in Portland and their daughter Diane ( Greiner) Edginton was born in 1945.  Betty worked for Meier &Frank several years in the millinery department and even designed ladies hats.  But she quit to raise her daughter and become a stay at home mom in the late 1940's.

A big supporter of Diane's interests, Betty took over the  Kelly School Baton group when the teacher moved away. The "Kelly Kadets", under her management, went on to win many state and regional championships and dominated the Rose Parade marching and float awards for a couple of decades.  Betty attended every competition, horse riding lesson, talent show and speaking competition that Diane competed in.

Betty was a natural artist, she added flair to everything she touched - from hand decorated rose festival floats, to beaded and sewn clothing,  even paintings, Betty could bring any image to life.   She was a self-proclaimed flower-addict and loved to garden and plan future plantings.

Betty had an especially close relationship to her only grandchild, Angela Edginton ( Burckhard).  She watched Angela often as she grew up in Happy Valley OR and attended hundreds of  horse shows with Diane and Angela often in the roles of "camp cook" and photographer.  Betty was always cheering on the Edginton horses from the sidelines and making sure the riders were well fed and had a cozy trailer to return to after performances.

Betty moved to Washington  with her daughter( Diane) and son in law ( Larry) when Merlin passed away and she has enjoyed many years with family before her passing on March 7th, 2014.