Betty Jane (Youngstrom) Brooks

Betty Brooks, 98, of Bemidji, MN died Tuesday, December 2, 2025 at Cedar Cottage.

Memorial services will be 11:00 a.m., Saturday, December 20, 2025 at Olson-Schwartz Funeral Home. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service at the funeral home.

Betty Jane Brooks was born on February 18, 1927, in Milaca, Minnesota to Elizabeth (Rickard) and George Youngstrom.   She had two older sisters, Lorraine and Lucille.  As an infant, her family moved to Sioux City, Iowa.  She graduated from high school in Sioux City.  From there she moved to Minneapolis where she met Gale Brooks on a blind date.   After her marriage to Gale on August 23, 1947, his occupation with Northwestern Bell Telephone led them to numerous communities, including Crookston, Merrifield, and Minneapolis.  They moved to Bemidji in 1957 and made many good friends along the way.  Betty worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, JC Penney, and Pat’s Gift Shop, owned by her long-time best friend, Pat Baird.  She learned to drive at age 50.  Betty and Gale were active in the community.  They were members of the United Methodist Church, singing in the choir for many years.  They both volunteered at the Bemidji Food Shelf.  Betty enjoyed square dancing, playing bridge and singing with the Sweet Adelines.

She was a great cook and will always be remembered as a warm, wonderful loving wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.  Her faith was evident in the way she loved and cared for her extended family and all who came into her life.  Betty was a survivor of breast cancer.

Betty and Gale were married for 72 years before Gale’s death in 2020.  At that time, she moved to Birch Haven Senior apartments where she enjoyed being able to spend time with her good friends, Pat and Chris.  People enjoyed Betty’s sweet nature wherever she lived including Birch Haven and Cedar Cottages, where she lived after her strokes.  She got to know and appreciate Pastor Terry Bernstrom and his wife, Marge who led services and Bible study for the residents at both places.

She is survived by her children, Michele (Duane) Sheets, Michael (Donna), Jack (Julie) and Debbie Brooks, 6 grandchildren, many great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband; parents and sisters, Lorraine Berggren and Lucille Kinnard.

Memorial donations in memory of Betty can be made to the Bemidji Food Shelf or Northwoods Habitat for Humanity.

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