Betty Skoglund Obituary

Betty Lee Skoglund, of Naperville, formerly of Deerpath Road, Batavia, passed on Monday May 19, 2008. She was a graduate of Oak Park High School, where she participated in Debate and Ballet. In 1934 Betty was chosen along with thirty others from the Chicago area to dance on the stage of the music pavilion at the Chicago Worlds Fair. She would later teach dance, especially tap dancing. Her parent's were accomplished musicians - vocal and instrumental. One of Betty's favorite childhood memories was when her parent's took her to the Opera House in Chicago where she saw and heard the triumphant March from Aida, a spectacular performance with live elephants, tigers and other animals marching across the stage! Betty attended the University of Illinois, where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority and participated on the Debate Team. While there she met her future husband, Bill. Betty and Bill first lived in River Forest and became members of the River Forest Tennis Club. They housed tennis stars like Pancho Gonzales and Tony Trabert, who came to play in the National Clay Court Championships which where held in River Forest in the 1940's. Betty joined the Oak Park Infant Welfare Society and enjoyed the privilege of introducing such musical artists as Yehoudi Menuhin and Jascha Heifetz. In 1951 Betty and Bill moved from River Forest to a farm on Deerpath Road west of Batavia. The family, including grandparents, lived in the small 1848 farmhouse. Together they put their hand to Herefords, horses, chickens and crops, while Bill designed and built their house in the meadow, and Betty painted it! Soon Betty joined the Geneva Garden Club (Batavia didn't yet have one). She served as its President twice, twenty years apart. She was sent to Judge's School, volunteered at the Morton Arboretum and earned many ribbons in flower show competitions. Years later she was honored by the Club by being the first to have a garden book donated to the Geneva Public Library in her name. Betty was a Girl Scout leader in Batavia. She also modeled at the Batavia Spring Merchants Show and at the Little Traveler in Geneva. She excelled in craft work, especially rug hooking and miniature scenes, having taken lessons from Batavia's Elaine Cannon, who was well known for her under dome scenes. Betty and her husband, Bill, enjoyed membership in the Kane County Car Club and being in local parades in their "first ever" 1964½ Ford Mustang Convertible. Betty and Bill began Fairmeadows Farm Antiques and Folk Art and enjoyed many years of traveling to Pennsylvania and New England to collect items, receiving guidance from cousins there to the auctions and antique shops. Returning to Illinois, they offered these items at shows such as Day in the Country in St. Charles, the Batavia Antique Show and the Lake Forest Academy Show. Betty loved volunteering at the Garfield Farm Museum and served, with her husband, on it's Board for ten years. She always said that they had some of their happiest times at Garfield. Betty also volunteered at the Fabyan Museum and supported Preservation Partners of the Fox Valley and the Batavia Historical Society. She enjoyed being a member of Thornapple Questers and Chapter FE of PEO. Betty loved her friends in all her activities. Betty was a member of First church of Christ, Scientists in Geneva and served as First Reader, Sunday School teacher and superintendent and Reading Room librarian. Betty's dearly beloved life-long husband, Bill, passed on in 2007. She is survived by two daughters, Nan Wroldsen and Betsy Hart, both of Geneva; two grandchildren, David M. (Angela) Hart of Denver, CO and Sarah R. Hart of Boston, MA; and cousins in the Philadelphia, PA area. A private service was held with her family. In lieu of flowers, contributions in Betty's memory may be sent to Garfield Farm Museum, P.O. Box 403, La Fox, IL 60147; Geneva Garden Club, 2003 Heather Road, Geneva, IL 60134; Alpha Chi Omega Foundation for Illinois Centennial Grant, 5939 Castle Creek Parkway, North Drive, Indianapolis, IN 46250; Preservation partners of the Fox Valley, P.O. Box 903, St. Charles, IL 60174; Chapter FE of PEO, 1422 Marion Court, Geneva, IL 60134; Thornapple Questers, Chapter #308, 5 N 490 Hidden Springs Drive, St. Charles, IL 60175; Harmony at Home Foundation, 627 Bakewell Lane, Naperville, IL 60565 or to First Church of Christ, Scientist, 211 S. Second St., Geneva, IL 60134.