Betty Jean (Hamilton) Pearson

Betty Jean Pearson, 93, of Nampa, passed away on Monday, November 27, 2017 in a Nampa hospital.

Betty was born on January 22, 1924 in Wooster, Ohio to Lester and Samantha Mellor Hamilton. She moved with her family as a small girl to Nampa. They also lived for a brief time in La Grande, OR but returned to Nampa where her father opened a jewelry store. She attended schools in Nampa graduating from Nampa High School in 1942. She attended the College of Idaho for two years and then was accepted into the St. Luke’s Hospital School of Nursing in Spokane, WA. She received not only a bachelors degree from the Washington State College but also her Registered Nursing degree from St. Luke’s.

While finishing her degree she met a brother of one of her classmates, Arthur Pearson. She fell in love and they married a year later on June 26, 1948 in Nampa. They lived in Ferndale, WA for a short time and then moved to Illinois where Art attended watch repair school. They returned to Nampa and began to work at Hamilton Jewelers.

Betty worked for the Mercy Hospital for 12 years and the Idaho State School and Hospital for another 12 years. She retired in 1976 and began volunteer nursing for several years. In 1992 she received a Jefferson Award for volunteer work.

She was a very active member of the Nampa First United Presbyterian Church where she served as deacon and elder and sang in the choir. She enjoyed music, reading, fishing with her husband, knitting, canning and baking during the Christmas season.

She will be missed by all who knew her.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Lester and Samantha, a brother and a sister, and her husband Arthur in 2006.

She is survived by two daughters, Jean Stansbury and Beth (Johnny) Smith; a son Ben (Janell) Pearson; two granddaughters, Lisa Maxey and Tirzah (Joshua) Myers; a great granddaughter, Layla Myers; and two sisters, Faith McCallum and Kathleen McClenahan

A memorial service will be held at 2:00 P.M. Saturday, March 17, 2018 at the Nampa First United Presbyterian Church. She will be interred in the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery next to her husband Arthur. An online guest book is available at www.nampafuneralhome.com 

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