Betty S. Siegel, 88, longtime resident of Baton Rouge, died Thursday, November 22, 2012. She is survived by her children Joseph Yoder, Kimen Mitchell, Paul Yoder and Brent Siegel, as well as 9 grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Capitol Area Family Violence Intervention Center, P.O. Box 52809, Baton Rouge, LA 70892.
∼Betty Jordan Smith Yoder Siegel had red hair or maybe strawberry blond, but she always called it red. Betty was proud of her red hair. With a name like Betty Smith it was what made her stand out. She had that northern European skin that went to freckles with the bare kiss of the sun. Her figure was willowy, and perhaps her best feature, aside from her hair, was her eyes. They were blue grey with those deep eye sockets in which the flesh never overlaps the eyelashes. Kind of like Audrey Hepburn’s –beautiful eyes.
She was born on April 14, 1924, a child of the depression and she never lost the habit of thrift. Her children teased her about being cheap, but she said she was just “scotch”.
Mother grew up in Shreveport, LA, in a strict Baptist home that didn’t hold with drinking, playing cards or dancing. Betty could abide by all those rules – except for dancing. She just had to dance, so she would sneak out with her friends to the YMCA where dances were being held. There she’d meet GI’s who would taunt her when she told them her name was Betty Smith. “You don’t have to lie about it,” they’d say, “We’re not going to hurt you.”
Finally, she got her freedom when she went off to Louisiana Tech in Ruston, LA. where she met a drop-dead handsome guy with curly black hair and the most amazing smile – and broad shoulders to boot. That was Joe Yoder who was enrolled in the engineering program at Tech. Before too long, he had to leave for naval officers’ candidate school. But the deal was struck and she married him in San Francisco in 1946.
Betty and Joe lived in Ruston after the war while he finished up his degree. Even though she had a degree in home economics, she taught English at Tech. Both of these skills stood her in good stead in her roles as wife and mother. And cooking? Well, long before Julia Child, Betty Yoder had a TV cooking show in the mid-fifties. “TV Kitchen” it was called and was one of the first shows produced in Baton Rouge in the fledgling WAFB studio. So needless to say, she was a terrific cook. After about a year on TV, she stepped down from her star status. She never made a big deal about it. She totally dedicated herself to her home and was a model homemaker in every way. She and Joe eventually had three children: Kimen Elizabeth (1948(, Joseph Floyd (the III to his father’s Jr.) (1951) and Paul Jordan (1956).
Betty was always very active in the Baton Rouge community. In the 60’s she co-wrote a cookbook The River Road Recipes as a Junior League fundraiser. This book went on to multiple printings before the River Road II came out in the 70’s. Around this same time, she became very active in a black/white dialog group, where she made many enduring friends of both races. She was one of the spearheads behind the 1st crisis intervention phone line in Baton Rouge and was a phone volunteer for many years. She followed that up with helping to start a battered women’s shelter. Finally, she was honored as Baton Rouge’s Woman of the Year in 1986.
After 25 years of marriage, she and Joe Yoder divorced – at that point she had learned that you cannot make other people happy and you cannot please everyone, so you have to make yourself happy and you have to please yourself. In 1971 she married Larry Siegel and they lived together happily until his death in 2004.
She believed it was best to plan for the next stage of your life as you see one phase drawing to a close. As an example, when all of her children left home, she began to take metalworks classes at LSU. For many years, she made marvelous jewelry and other metal objects much to the delight of her friends and family.
At age 82, Betty had a debilitating hemorrhagic stroke. As a result she was left with partial paralysis on her left side and severe language impairment. Ironically, a woman who called herself “the snoop of the world” because she always wanted to talk and talk and know everything that was going on, no longer could. Though she was able to make her needs known, carrying on a conversation was not feasible as she had trouble finding words and was difficult to understand. In spite of this, she had a regular morning routine at her nursing home. She walked around with the help of her walker and visited other residents, some with more capacity than herself and some with less. She would just pop in and say hello and how are you – and give her bright lopsided smile. Eventually she lost her mobility and most of her sight and hearing as well. Finally, at age 88, she died on Thanksgiving Day in 2012, surrounded by much of her immediate family, eating her favorite meal in her favorite restaurant. Betty Jordan Smith Yoder Siegel: well loved and much missed.
∼Betty Jordan Smith Yoder Siegel had red hair or maybe strawberry blond, but she always called it red. Betty was proud of her red hair. With a name like Betty Smith it was what made her stand out. She had that northern European skin that went to freckles with the bare kiss of the sun. Her figure was willowy, and perhaps her best feature, aside from her hair, was her eyes. They were blue grey with those deep eye sockets in which the flesh never overlaps the eyelashes. Kind of like Audrey Hepburn’s –beautiful eyes.
She was born on April 14, 1924, a child of the depression and she never lost the habit of thrift. Her children teased her about being cheap, but she said she was just “scotch”.
Mother grew up in Shreveport, LA, in a strict Baptist home that didn’t hold with drinking, playing cards or dancing. Betty could abide by all those rules – except for dancing. She just had to dance, so she would sneak out with her friends to the YMCA where dances were being held. There she’d meet GI’s who would taunt her when she told them her name was Betty Smith. “You don’t have to lie about it,” they’d say, “We’re not going to hurt you.”
Finally, she got her freedom when she went off to Louisiana Tech in Ruston, LA. where she met a drop-dead handsome guy with curly black hair and the most amazing smile – and broad shoulders to boot. That was Joe Yoder who was enrolled in the engineering program at Tech. Before too long, he had to leave for naval officers’ candidate school. But the deal was struck and she married him in San Francisco in 1946.
Betty and Joe lived in Ruston after the war while he finished up his degree. Even though she had a degree in home economics, she taught English at Tech. Both of these skills stood her in good stead in her roles as wife and mother. And cooking? Well, long before Julia Child, Betty Yoder had a TV cooking show in the mid-fifties. “TV Kitchen” it was called and was one of the first shows produced in Baton Rouge in the fledgling WAFB studio. So needless to say, she was a terrific cook. After about a year on TV, she stepped down from her star status. She never made a big deal about it. She totally dedicated herself to her home and was a model homemaker in every way. She and Joe eventually had three children: Kimen Elizabeth (1948(, Joseph Floyd (the III to his father’s Jr.) (1951) and Paul Jordan (1956).
Betty was always very active in the Baton Rouge community. In the 60’s she co-wrote a cookbook The River Road Recipes as a Junior League fundraiser. This book went on to multiple printings before the River Road II came out in the 70’s. Around this same time, she became very active in a black/white dialog group, where she made many enduring friends of both races. She was one of the spearheads behind the 1st crisis intervention phone line in Baton Rouge and was a phone volunteer for many years. She followed that up with helping to start a battered women’s shelter. Finally, she was honored as Baton Rouge’s Woman of the Year in 1986.
After 25 years of marriage, she and Joe Yoder divorced – at that point she had learned that you cannot make other people happy and you cannot please everyone, so you have to make yourself happy and you have to please yourself. In 1971 she married Larry Siegel and they lived together happily until his death in 2004.
She believed it was best to plan for the next stage of your life as you see one phase drawing to a close. As an example, when all of her children left home, she began to take metalworks classes at LSU. For many years, she made marvelous jewelry and other metal objects much to the delight of her friends and family.
At age 82, Betty had a debilitating hemorrhagic stroke. As a result she was left with partial paralysis on her left side and severe language impairment. Ironically, a woman who called herself “the snoop of the world” because she always wanted to talk and talk and know everything that was going on, no longer could. Though she was able to make her needs known, carrying on a conversation was not feasible as she had trouble finding words and was difficult to understand. In spite of this, she had a regular morning routine at her nursing home. She walked around with the help of her walker and visited other residents, some with more capacity than herself and some with less. She would just pop in and say hello and how are you – and give her bright lopsided smile. Eventually she lost her mobility and most of her sight and hearing as well. Finally, at age 88, she died on Thanksgiving Day in 2012, surrounded by much of her immediate family, eating her favorite meal in her favorite restaurant. Betty Jordan Smith Yoder Siegel: well loved and much missed.
Betty S. Siegel, 88, longtime resident of Baton Rouge, died Thursday, November 22, 2012. She is survived by her children Joseph Yoder, Kimen Mitchell, Paul Yoder and Brent Siegel, as well as 9 grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Capitol Area Family Violence Intervention Center, P.O. Box 52809, Baton Rouge, LA 70892.
∼Betty Jordan Smith Yoder Siegel had red hair or maybe strawberry blond, but she always called it red. Betty was proud of her red hair. With a name like Betty Smith it was what made her stand out. She had that northern European skin that went to freckles with the bare kiss of the sun. Her figure was willowy, and perhaps her best feature, aside from her hair, was her eyes. They were blue grey with those deep eye sockets in which the flesh never overlaps the eyelashes. Kind of like Audrey Hepburn’s –beautiful eyes.
She was born on April 14, 1924, a child of the depression and she never lost the habit of thrift. Her children teased her about being cheap, but she said she was just “scotch”.
Mother grew up in Shreveport, LA, in a strict Baptist home that didn’t hold with drinking, playing cards or dancing. Betty could abide by all those rules – except for dancing. She just had to dance, so she would sneak out with her friends to the YMCA where dances were being held. There she’d meet GI’s who would taunt her when she told them her name was Betty Smith. “You don’t have to lie about it,” they’d say, “We’re not going to hurt you.”
Finally, she got her freedom when she went off to Louisiana Tech in Ruston, LA. where she met a drop-dead handsome guy with curly black hair and the most amazing smile – and broad shoulders to boot. That was Joe Yoder who was enrolled in the engineering program at Tech. Before too long, he had to leave for naval officers’ candidate school. But the deal was struck and she married him in San Francisco in 1946.
Betty and Joe lived in Ruston after the war while he finished up his degree. Even though she had a degree in home economics, she taught English at Tech. Both of these skills stood her in good stead in her roles as wife and mother. And cooking? Well, long before Julia Child, Betty Yoder had a TV cooking show in the mid-fifties. “TV Kitchen” it was called and was one of the first shows produced in Baton Rouge in the fledgling WAFB studio. So needless to say, she was a terrific cook. After about a year on TV, she stepped down from her star status. She never made a big deal about it. She totally dedicated herself to her home and was a model homemaker in every way. She and Joe eventually had three children: Kimen Elizabeth (1948(, Joseph Floyd (the III to his father’s Jr.) (1951) and Paul Jordan (1956).
Betty was always very active in the Baton Rouge community. In the 60’s she co-wrote a cookbook The River Road Recipes as a Junior League fundraiser. This book went on to multiple printings before the River Road II came out in the 70’s. Around this same time, she became very active in a black/white dialog group, where she made many enduring friends of both races. She was one of the spearheads behind the 1st crisis intervention phone line in Baton Rouge and was a phone volunteer for many years. She followed that up with helping to start a battered women’s shelter. Finally, she was honored as Baton Rouge’s Woman of the Year in 1986.
After 25 years of marriage, she and Joe Yoder divorced – at that point she had learned that you cannot make other people happy and you cannot please everyone, so you have to make yourself happy and you have to please yourself. In 1971 she married Larry Siegel and they lived together happily until his death in 2004.
She believed it was best to plan for the next stage of your life as you see one phase drawing to a close. As an example, when all of her children left home, she began to take metalworks classes at LSU. For many years, she made marvelous jewelry and other metal objects much to the delight of her friends and family.
At age 82, Betty had a debilitating hemorrhagic stroke. As a result she was left with partial paralysis on her left side and severe language impairment. Ironically, a woman who called herself “the snoop of the world” because she always wanted to talk and talk and know everything that was going on, no longer could. Though she was able to make her needs known, carrying on a conversation was not feasible as she had trouble finding words and was difficult to understand. In spite of this, she had a regular morning routine at her nursing home. She walked around with the help of her walker and visited other residents, some with more capacity than herself and some with less. She would just pop in and say hello and how are you – and give her bright lopsided smile. Eventually she lost her mobility and most of her sight and hearing as well. Finally, at age 88, she died on Thanksgiving Day in 2012, surrounded by much of her immediate family, eating her favorite meal in her favorite restaurant. Betty Jordan Smith Yoder Siegel: well loved and much missed.
∼Betty Jordan Smith Yoder Siegel had red hair or maybe strawberry blond, but she always called it red. Betty was proud of her red hair. With a name like Betty Smith it was what made her stand out. She had that northern European skin that went to freckles with the bare kiss of the sun. Her figure was willowy, and perhaps her best feature, aside from her hair, was her eyes. They were blue grey with those deep eye sockets in which the flesh never overlaps the eyelashes. Kind of like Audrey Hepburn’s –beautiful eyes.
She was born on April 14, 1924, a child of the depression and she never lost the habit of thrift. Her children teased her about being cheap, but she said she was just “scotch”.
Mother grew up in Shreveport, LA, in a strict Baptist home that didn’t hold with drinking, playing cards or dancing. Betty could abide by all those rules – except for dancing. She just had to dance, so she would sneak out with her friends to the YMCA where dances were being held. There she’d meet GI’s who would taunt her when she told them her name was Betty Smith. “You don’t have to lie about it,” they’d say, “We’re not going to hurt you.”
Finally, she got her freedom when she went off to Louisiana Tech in Ruston, LA. where she met a drop-dead handsome guy with curly black hair and the most amazing smile – and broad shoulders to boot. That was Joe Yoder who was enrolled in the engineering program at Tech. Before too long, he had to leave for naval officers’ candidate school. But the deal was struck and she married him in San Francisco in 1946.
Betty and Joe lived in Ruston after the war while he finished up his degree. Even though she had a degree in home economics, she taught English at Tech. Both of these skills stood her in good stead in her roles as wife and mother. And cooking? Well, long before Julia Child, Betty Yoder had a TV cooking show in the mid-fifties. “TV Kitchen” it was called and was one of the first shows produced in Baton Rouge in the fledgling WAFB studio. So needless to say, she was a terrific cook. After about a year on TV, she stepped down from her star status. She never made a big deal about it. She totally dedicated herself to her home and was a model homemaker in every way. She and Joe eventually had three children: Kimen Elizabeth (1948(, Joseph Floyd (the III to his father’s Jr.) (1951) and Paul Jordan (1956).
Betty was always very active in the Baton Rouge community. In the 60’s she co-wrote a cookbook The River Road Recipes as a Junior League fundraiser. This book went on to multiple printings before the River Road II came out in the 70’s. Around this same time, she became very active in a black/white dialog group, where she made many enduring friends of both races. She was one of the spearheads behind the 1st crisis intervention phone line in Baton Rouge and was a phone volunteer for many years. She followed that up with helping to start a battered women’s shelter. Finally, she was honored as Baton Rouge’s Woman of the Year in 1986.
After 25 years of marriage, she and Joe Yoder divorced – at that point she had learned that you cannot make other people happy and you cannot please everyone, so you have to make yourself happy and you have to please yourself. In 1971 she married Larry Siegel and they lived together happily until his death in 2004.
She believed it was best to plan for the next stage of your life as you see one phase drawing to a close. As an example, when all of her children left home, she began to take metalworks classes at LSU. For many years, she made marvelous jewelry and other metal objects much to the delight of her friends and family.
At age 82, Betty had a debilitating hemorrhagic stroke. As a result she was left with partial paralysis on her left side and severe language impairment. Ironically, a woman who called herself “the snoop of the world” because she always wanted to talk and talk and know everything that was going on, no longer could. Though she was able to make her needs known, carrying on a conversation was not feasible as she had trouble finding words and was difficult to understand. In spite of this, she had a regular morning routine at her nursing home. She walked around with the help of her walker and visited other residents, some with more capacity than herself and some with less. She would just pop in and say hello and how are you – and give her bright lopsided smile. Eventually she lost her mobility and most of her sight and hearing as well. Finally, at age 88, she died on Thanksgiving Day in 2012, surrounded by much of her immediate family, eating her favorite meal in her favorite restaurant. Betty Jordan Smith Yoder Siegel: well loved and much missed.
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