About Me​

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Cora Elizabeth (Penwell) Reese was born on July 3, 1921 in Cozad, NE to Harrison and Anna Mary (McLane) Penwell.  She had one brother, Glenn, only 11 months older.  Always known as “Betty”, she would actually refuse to acknowledge her legal name. 

 

Living in Cozad while growing up, Betty had a difficult childhood yet one that she always looked back on fondly.  Her father left the house one day when she was around 2, never to return or be heard from again.  With her mother and brother, she then moved in with her grandparents.  Her grandfather passed away when she was 9, followed by her mother when she was 12.  When her grandmother passed away when she was only 16, Betty and her brother were left to fend for themselves.  She was able to live with a local family, working for them to pay for her upkeep, and her brother left to join the service.   Unfortunately, Glenn was killed in action in 1945.  Through all of the trials and tribulations she experienced, Cozad always remained special to her and she retained friends from there for a lifetime.  

 

Betty graduated from Cozad High School in 1939 and married Frank Alison Reese on December 24, 1941 in Omaha, NE.  Following Frank through his military and work career, she became a stay home mom raising 5 kids.  This meant years of cooking, cleaning, and ironing.  Never one to refuse a card game, she is best known for her sense of humor.  Favorite tales from the family revolve around Frank of course, flipping a hot pancake fresh off the grill onto the top of his bald head and hosing him down through an open bathroom window where he was hiding after spraying her with water!  

 

In a different era, it would be interesting to see the life that Betty would have lived. 

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Spouse/Partner: Frank Reese

Children: Alan Reese, Bob Reese, Jim Reese, Trudy (Reese) Luchsinger, Mark Reese

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