Betty Lou Christensen

Betty Lou Christensen, the daughter of Nels and Hannah (Mortensen) Buckholdt, was born February 11, 1930, at her parents’ home near Hamlin, Iowa and died February 22, 2020, at the Friendship Home in Audubon, Iowa at the age of 90 years and 11 days.

Betty was baptized and confirmed at the Hamlin Lutheran Church in Hamlin. She attended rural Audubon County schools, graduating from Audubon High School with the Class of 1948. Following graduation, Betty was first employed at Elmer Carlson Hybrid Seed Company, then became co-owner of the B & B Café in Hamlin. Later, she worked as telephone operator for the Audubon Telephone Company.

On May 8, 1954, she was united in marriage to Herbert M. Christensen at St. Timothy’s Lutheran Church in Council Bluffs, Iowa. They were blessed with two children: Sheiree and Brian. Herb was still on active duty in the U.S. Army, so they moved to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, where he was stationed. Herb was honorably discharged in 1956, and they moved to Hamlin, where Herb was employed at the Audubon Creamery.

After their home was ruined in the flood of 1958, they moved to Audubon, where Betty worked part-time at the telephone office while raising the children. As the children became older, Betty worked at various businesses, including the Ben Franklin Store, also known as the Dime Store; the L&M Shoe store; the elementary school lunchroom; and in the junior high school as a custodian. She then was a nurse’s aide and a receptionist at the Friendship Home until she retired. Herb died in 1994, and Betty enjoyed her home before moving to the Friendship Home in Audubon.

Betty was a member of the Hamlin Lutheran Church in Hamlin until it closed, then she became a member of the Brayton Lutheran Church in Brayton, Iowa. She enjoyed visiting with everyone she met. She loved playing Skip-Bo, visiting Phil Jensen on a daily basis, and being involved in anything that included a social gathering. Betty was very proud of her Danish heritage and enjoyed hosting and entertaining her relatives from Denmark, who traveled several times to Iowa to visit her. She was also fortunate enough to visit the relatives in Denmark in 1989 and 1996. But above all, she loved spending time with her family, especially her grandsons Ben and Jess.

Preceding her in death were her husband, Herbert M. Christensen; her parents; her brothers, Eilert and wife Lois Buckholdt, and Hans and wife Martha Buckholdt; her brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law: Ed and wife Ethel Christensen, Norman “Duke” Christensen, Selma Christensen, Arnold and wife Liane Christensen, Gerda and husband James Hope, Edith and husband John Larsen, Henry “Hank” and wife Eva Mortensen, and Alvin and wife Erna Mortensen.

Survivors include her children, Sheiree and husband Thad Planck of Atlantic, Iowa and Brian and wife Tonya Christensen of Columbia, Missouri; her grandsons Ben Christensen of Osaka, Japan and Jess Christensen of Springfield, Missouri; her good friend, Phil Jensen of Audubon; her cousins in Denmark, nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.

Funeral services will be conducted by Pastor Steven Frock on Saturday, February 29, 2020, at 10:00 a.m. at the Brayton Lutheran Church in Brayton, Iowa. Interment will be in the Hamlin Lutheran Cemetery east of Hamlin, Iowa. The casket bearers will be Rick Buckholdt, Ron Buckholdt, Doug Buckholdt, Dean Christensen, Herb Christensen, and Jim Christensen.