Obituary for Michael "Mickey" Gae Betz

Michael "Mickey" Betz

Michael Gae (Mickey) Blanchard, 78 was born November 11, 1945 in Washington, DC to Bertha Evelyn (Deming) and Richard McMasters Blanchard. She passed away at the Dennis and Donna Oldorf Hospice House peacefully, surrounded by family on November 5th, 2024, from vascular dementia.

Her family lived on Guam for a year while her Father served in the Navy. She always talked about the lizards on the top of their quonset hut’s tin roof. Her Father died of polio while they were on Guam. If her Father had lived, her life would have been very different. 

While in high school Mickey worked at the Chariton Dairy Queen, and graduated from Chariton High School in 1963.  After graduating she attended Iowa State University for a short time. She then moved to Denver, CO to attend Parks School of Business and was a nanny for 3 boys! Later on while living at the farm, the Colorado family needed someone to stay with their youngest son while the rest of them went on a trip. Mickey accepted the challenge and bravely or crazily drove their 2 door olive green Ford Torino cross country with her 2 small girls. She got to play tour guide while they were there, showing the girls places she had been years before and stopping at more on the way back to Iowa.

She was united in marriage to Jim Swarthout on October 8th, 1966. To this union, two daughters were born: Janel Wynn and Jody Lynn. They later divorced.

Mickey worked at Look Magazine - Meredith Publishing, for a short time, while they lived in Des Moines. They had dreams of moving to Alaska, but it didn’t pan out. 

The couple moved to Chariton where she started out as a telephone operator and remained with the company (Contel) until it closed. She made some great friends there through the years. Mickey had several jobs in Knoxville they included being a dispatcher at Mike Brooks Trucking (she always said she liked it, because she got to tell guys “where to go”) Schmaltz’s Drug Store and Neodata with Janel – where they processed the subscription post cards that always fall out of your magazines.

After her divorce Mickey moved to Cedar Rapids to be closer to her daughters, and that is where she met her future husband, George Betz. While living in Cedar Rapids she worked at several jobs – including being a personal shopper at Nordstrom’s call center, Kenwood House Interiors, NCS – processing the ever challenging Student Aid FAFSA forms with both of the girls.  But, her greatest loves were watching her “adopted family” of Oklahoma homesteaders on YouTube & sending care packages to their kids, many types of crafting, scrapbooking and Pinterest. She worked on several scrapbooks for the family as long as her health permitted.

Mickey was preceded in death by her parents; sister, Pat Singleton; niece, Robin (Singleton) Webb and various other relatives. Unfortunately, diabetes played a starring role in many of these deaths including her own.

She leaves to mourn her passing: her husband, George Betz; daughters: Janel Miller and Jody Swarthout (Nancy Bernardi), all of Cedar Rapids; sisters, Sheila Blanchard and Debby Downs (Bill) of Allerton; nieces:  Marcy Williams (Rick) of Corydon; Dee Dee Chance (Cade Sloan) of Albia; nephew, Roger Randolph, Jr. (Kris) of Iowa City and 3 step-daughters, plus numerous great nieces and nephews, cousins and other friends and relatives.

Her body has been cremated and a Celebration of Life will be held in the spring of 2025.  Her ashes will be buried by her mother in Bethel Cemetery, Lucas County, Iowa.