Bette Jean Tompkins

BETTE JEAN TOMPKINS Funeral services for longtime Cortez resident, Bette Jean Tompkins will be held at 2 p.m., Saturday, August 12 at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church with Rev. Larry Day officiating. Interment will follow at Summit Ridge Cemetery. Visitation has been set for Friday evening from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Ertel Memorial Chapel. Bette Jean was born March 7, 1923 in Cuthbert, S.D., the daughter of Walter Martin and Jeannie Myrtle (Hawes) Rogers. She passed away at her home with her family present on August 5, 2006 at the age of 83. On Nov. 23, 1941 in Las Vegas, Nev., Bette Jean married Allen Coles Tompkins. The couple shared 62 years of marriage before Allen’s death in July, 2004. They raised their family in Southern California before moving to Cortez in 1976. After the move to Cortez, Bette Jean became active in St. Barnabas Episcopal Church and Southwest Memorial Hospital Auxiliary where she served terms as President and Treasurer. She loved playing games and bowling and acting in the theatre, but most especially she loved time spent with family. Surviving Bette Jean are her four children, Susan Hickey and husband, Chuck of Fontana, Calif., Tom Tompkins and wife, Sue of Dolores, Sally Tompkins of Cortez, and Roger Tompkins and wife, Cami of Atascadero, Calif.; as well as 17 grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren. Five brothers and one sister; her parents; and her husband precede her in death. Memorial contributions can be made in memory of Bette Jean Tompkins with Southwest Memorial Hospital Auxiliary or Hospice of Montezuma.