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Betty Florine (Simpson) Hedgpeth of Concord (formerly of Turlock) passed away on Friday, February 9, 2018, at the age of 95. She is preceded in death by her husband, Melvin and is survived by her four children Bob, Ted, Jane and Sara, five grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren. Betty was born on August 3, 1922 in Redlands, California and spent her youth in Redlands, Long Beach and the greater Los Angeles area. In early 1944, Mom was doing her part for the war effort, working as a teletype operator at March Air Force Base in Riverside. One day, a handsome young man named Melvin Hedgpeth came to ask the “cute little teletype operator” for some shared commute rides. It was love at first sight. She and Dad knew they were the ones for each other and they married in March of that year. Dad went off to war while mom’s life became centered around her family and her first son. After the war, Mom & Dad moved to Redlands, California where he built her dream home. She was the center of her children’s lives. Mom was a Brownie & Girl Scout mom, Cubs & Boy Scout mom, a PTA mom, a baseball mom, as well as a mom who got us to church and the choir. She was devoted to taking care of her family. In 1960, the family moved from Redlands to the Turlock area, where Dad became a dairy farmer. She went to work to support our new dairy and our family. She never complained throughout those cold, foggy winters and difficult back roads. She found her dream job at the newly opened Stanislaus State College in the acquisitions department of the college library and became a working mom. In spite of a 10-mile distance to town, she made sure each of us got rides to all of our activities in grammar school and/or high school. She would often wait many hours after her job was over for us to finish our sports or drama events to bring us home, make our dinner, and help us with our homework. After all the children were out of the house, Mom & Dad took great joy in camping trips in the Sierras and longer journeys around the western United States in their fifth-wheel trailer. In 1985, Betty went even further afield when she traveled with Sara and her musical friends from Seattle on a month-long tour of Europe. She had never been out of California on a plane but braved the long flight to Europe and had a wonderful experience. Betty was an avid genealogist and spent many hours documenting her family history. She did it before the days of the internet, spending many hours reading microfiche and looking up old records. She worked hard enough to prove her family line all the way to the American Revolution and became a member of the DAR, of which she was very proud. After her retirement she became a volunteer at the Family History Centers in Turlock and Concord. She and Dad were married for 49 years, until his death in 1993. In 1996, she moved to Concord to be close to her oldest daughter, Jane. She loved to putter in the garden, attend Jane’s Cardiac Rehab dinners and events, and enjoyed family dinners with Jane and Mike. She had many happy memories there. Betty will be interred in Turlock Memorial Park next to her husband. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 17, at Betty and Melvin’s graveside, 575 N. Soderquist Rd., Turlock.

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Betty Florine Hedgpeth

August 3, 1922 - February 9, 2018