Elizabeth Ann Kovanda Warner passed away peacefully on April 7, 2018, at St. Simeon’s Episcopal Home in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Betsy, as she was fondly known, was born July 26, 1925, in Peru, Nebraska. She grew up in Ord, Nebraska, where she graduated from Ord High School in 1943. She enjoyed serving on the school newspaper and yearbook staffs, National Thespians, and participated in eight school musical productions. Betsy’s lifelong love of women’s fashion began with her part-time job at Ord’s dress shop on the town square.
Betsy was a member of Alpha Chi Omega and a 1947 alumna of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. There she met Don Warner, and they were married at her sorority house in April 1947. They settled in Central City, Nebraska, and welcomed their children, Janis, Donn and Wendy. Later, after brief residencies in Missouri and Kansas, they returned to Nebraska where they enjoyed their home on Grand Island’s Kuester Lake. They were active members of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, where Betsy enjoyed being a lay reader. Betsy loved working at the iconic Hovland-Swanson Department Store, and later at Seiferts Store for Women.
Don and Betsy retired to Green Valley, Arizona, where they enjoyed golfing and Nebraska Cornhusker watch parties. In 2006 they moved to be near their family in Owasso, Oklahoma, where they enjoyed many family reunions and celebrations. Betsy’s wish was for her family and friends to “remember the good times.” She was a sociable and fun-loving woman who loved music, dancing and her small-town roots.
Betsy was preceded in death by her husband, Donald Warner; parents, Dorothy Pettit Kovanda and Jess Kovanda; brother, Keith Kovanda; and daughter, Janis Ruth. She is survived by her son, Donn and Diane Warner; daughter, Wendy and David Buss; four grandchildren, Josie Warner, Erin Warner, Sara Jones and James Hobbs; and four great-grandchildren, Oscar Warnersmith, Brianna Jones, Nathan Jones and Addison Jones. Memorials are suggested to St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Grand Island, Nebraska.
Arrangements and services have been entrusted to Mowery Funeral Service of Owasso.www.moweryfs.com
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