ELIZABETH ‘BETTY’ JANE BAILEY passed away the evening of Friday, February 20th, 2026, the greatest teacher, and mother, any of us could have ever hoped for.

Betty is survived by her daughter Jennifer (Jason) deBoer and granddaughters Ceili and Bridget; and son Sean (Shanna) Bailey and grandsons Connor and Ryder. Betty will be greatly missed by her family.

Teaching was what you were put on this Earth to do, and you taught all of us so many things, proper grammar, spelling, the War of 1812, and even the Dewey Decimal system, when that was still around. You tried to teach me about patience and understanding, even when it seemed like that wasn’t possible. You taught Jenn how to clean her room and pick up her stuff, even if that took longer than it should have. And it wasn’t just us, you were an educator to all of our friends, to those that stuck around and to those that moved on. As well as all of your students, which if my rough math is close, is probably over sixteen thousand kids, all said and done. A lot of them loved you, a lot of them liked you, and I’m sure a few of them “hated” you, but that never mattered, you treated everyone the same, you treated them fair and with respect, and maybe that’s the most important lesson of all.

At Betty’s request, no funeral service will be held. A Celebration of Life will be held in the Summer.