On December 27, 2010 after a valiant 34 month battle with cancer, Elizabeth \u201cBetty\u201d Virginia Tuffli (Cooley) of East Helena, left this earth to be with her heavenly Father. <\/p>\n
She was born on June 8, 1933 in Friendly, Maryland to Paul and Ruth Cooley, the third of six children. She was raised and attended school in Brandywine, MD. While working as a secretary\/stenographer at Andrews AFB, M.D., she met the love of her life, John Tuffli, a staff sergeant in the Air Force. John and Betty were married in Clinton, MD in 1954 and began their life together traveling throughout the world and building their family. In 1972, after their last overseas tour of duty in Japan, the Tuffli family settled in East Helena, MT where John and Betty made a home for the last 38 years. <\/p>\n
After the children were grown, she worked at Drug Fair, JCPenney and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of MT. Lovingly known as \u201cBetty Boop,\u201d she was petite in stature but big in heart; no doubt the matriarch but many times, mistaken for one of the kids. A more loving wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother couldn\u2019t be found. Betty loved her family, especially the new babies. She always had a smile, an infectious giggle, a kind word for everyone and was notorious for putting everyone\u2019s needs ahead of her own . . . this did not change while suffering with her illness. <\/p>\n
In addition to caring for her family, Betty was an avid seamstress, making most of her children\u2019s clothing in their younger years. Betty channeled her creativity through many years of doing ceramics, arts and crafts. Her family still enjoys the art she created. Betty was an active member of the East Helena Methodist Church and loved singing in the choir, until her illness prevented her from doing so. She was always available to help with church functions and sent cards to ill members of the church. <\/p>\n
\u201cHoney, Mom and Grandma, we will miss you more than you know but you have left a part of you in all of us, and for that we are blessed.\u201d Given the chance, Betty\u2019s parting words would have been, \u201cHave fun but not too much.\u201d <\/p>\n
Betty was preceded in death by her parents; sister, Marian Beck and an infant son, Norman Greg. Betty is survived by her loving husband of 56 years, John; her six children, Robert Tuffli (Berneice), Carol Fox (Bill Torgerson), Linda Herrington (Dean), Elaine Tuffli, Gary Tuffli , Dini Scharf (Eric); 12 grandchildren, Billie Jo Johnson (Chris ), Lisa Hahn (Mike), Nick Fox (Tiffany Reeves), Caleb Herrington, Loren Herrington, Dani Rae Tuffli (Will Martin), Kayla Redmond , Kelsey Redmond and Kevin Redmond, Jack Scharf, David Scharf, Erica Scharf (Brian); and six great-grandchildren, Mackenzie McMillan, Payton McMillan, Josh Hahn, Koby Tuffli, Marlee Marrie Fox, Huey Lewis Hearty. She is also survived by her three sisters, Louisa Ward, Alice Greniger, Ruth Inman (William); and her brother, Paul Jr. Cooley (Doris). <\/p>\n
Viewing will take place on Sunday, Jan 2, 2011 from 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. at Anderson Stevenson Wilke Funeral Home, 650 Logan Street. Services will be held 10:30 a.m. Monday, January 3, 2011 at East Helena United Methodist Church , 50 Prickly Pear Ave., East Helena, with a reception to follow. Graveside services will be 1:00 p.m. at the Montana State Veterans Cemetery at Ft. Harrison for those wishing to attend. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Cancer Society. Condolences may be sent to the family by visiting: www.aswfuneralhome.com.<\/p>\n","photo":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/297102_profile_pic.jpg","youtube_video_url":"","family_email":"","family_first_name":"","family_last_name":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case\/728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/case"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}