Betty Louise Yergen

Graveside services for Betty Yergen, a 94-year-old Buffalo, Wyoming resident who passed away Wednesday the 8th of May at the Johnson County Memorial Hospital will be held by her family at a later date in the Zion Memorial Cemetery in Canby, Oregon with Pastor Steve Kirkebey officiating.  Donations in Betty’s memory may be made to the Doernbecher Hospital in Portland, Oregon at 700 SW Campus Dr, Portland, OR 97239, or the Shriners Hospital at 3101 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd, Portland, OR 97239. Online condolences may be made at www.harnessfuneralhome.com.

Betty Louise Yergen was born on October 5, 1929, in Greeley, Colorado to Lawrence and Lillie Johnson.  She started school in Briggsdale, Colorado and when she was in second grade she moved with her family to Oregon they lived in various towns and when she was a senior in high school they moved to Canby, Oregon where she graduated from Canby High School with the class of 1947. After high school, she moved to Portland where she worked at Carl Grieves Jewelry. She later moved to Seaside Oregon where she met Bert Yergen, the love of her life, and they were married in 1952 in Canby, Oregon.  The couple made their home in Aurora, Oregon where she was a homemaker. In the mid-1970s they moved to Diamond, Oregon where they owned and operated a cattle ranch. In 1988 they moved to Burns, Oregon, and worked on a ranch. Bert passed away in 1994 and Betty moved to Prineville, Oregon where she worked for an insurance underwriter and also the county clerk.  She sold Home Interiors for several years and in 2000 she moved to LaGrande, Oregon with her daughter.  In 2020 they moved to Buffalo where she continued to live until her death.

Betty was a life member of the Order of the Eastern Star and the Woodburn Art League in Woodburn, Oregon She was a past mother advisor of Venus Assembly International Order of Rainbow for girls in Donald, Oregon. She was an avid gardener and always kept her house and yard in perfect shape.  She made photo albums for her family and loved spending time with her grandchildren. She is survived by one son Craig Yergen and his wife Nikki of Shoshoni, Wyoming; one daughter Lynne Tilley of Buffalo, Wyoming; five grandchildren, Tim, Crystal, Jim, Beth, and Shelly and ten great-grandchildren, Ray, Trenton, Tanner, Katie Sue, Travis, lucas, Sheyanne, Coltin, Kainen and Kiptyn. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, one son, Ricky Yergen, and one brother, Vern Johnson.