Betty Jean Dinges

Betty Jean Dinges

Betty Jean Dinges, age 97, passed away in Brighton, Colorado on February 11, 2025, surrounded by her loving family.  She was born on January 2, 1928 in Ellis, Kansas to Jacob J. and Adeline (Seib) Gabel.

At the age of eight, Betty’s family moved from Kansas to Brighton, Colorado, where she was raised and attended public schools.  Before Betty became a mother she worked at the local laundry and Ben Franklin Store.  She married Patrick Dinges on August 25, 1947, in Brighton where the couple remained and spent their days raising five children.  Betty was then a homemaker and helped her husband, Pat, with their family furniture business.

Even with allergies to wheat flour it didn’t stop her from baking desserts for her family on her weekly baking day, even though she could not enjoy a bite.  She was an excellent seamstress, from sewing school clothes for the girls to making window curtains.  Betty also enjoyed embroidering, which she did until her final months.  She loved doing word searches, which she did daily by going through many books.  In her younger days many weekends were spent polka dancing and a weekly routine of playing pinochle.  Betty found card players when she moved to Inglenook Assisted Living and continued her love of the game of pinochle.  

Many grew fond of Betty once meeting her.  She was a faithful Catholic and member of St. Augustine Catholic church.  She carried the tradition of her mother and sewed baptismal gowns for babies and volunteered at the Food Pantry.  She was a gracious host and a loving wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother.  Everyone was made to feel welcome in her home and this is the house where the family most loved to gather.  

Betty is survived by her four children: Sandra Bischoff (Brighton, CO), Shelley (Rob) Lopez (Broomfield, CO), Lori (Robert) Markley (Brighton, CO), and Paul (Debra) Dinges (Centennial, CO). She is also survived by two of her siblings, Bernieda (Ken) Trusiak (Arizona) and Darlene Steckline (Brighton, CO).  She had thirteen grandchildren, fourteen great-grandchildren and seven great-great grandchildren.  She is preceded in death by both of her parents, Jacob and Adeline (Seib) Gabel, and her loving husband, Patrick.  Two children, Linda Marie and Gregory.  Five siblings:  Elmer, Virgil and Irvin Gabel, Rita Wright and Berniece Bench.  She is also preceded by her granddaughter, Mandy, and son-in-law Terry Bischoff.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Betty Jean Dinges, please visit our floral store.