Elizabeth “Betty” Kister Regnier
d. July 17, 2016
Elizabeth "Betty" Kister Regnier, Mother, Mom and Gramma, passed away peacefully on Friday, July 15, 2016.
Betty, age 95, was a lifelong resident of Billings. The daughter of Jacob and Susie Kister, she was born on Oct. 17, 1920.
As a young girl, with her brothers and sisters, she hoed beets in the fields west of Billings. In 1937, she graduated eighth grade from Upper Spring Creek School in Stillwater County. She briefly attended high school and, on June 6, 1940, she married Donald "Don" Regnier in Red Lodge.
Don and Betty lived in Lockwood and moved into town, where she was a homemaker in three different homes in the North Park and Cobb Field neighborhoods.
She learned to cook from her mother-in-law, Lessie Regnier. In the 1940s and '50s, she helped prepare large family Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. In the 1960s, she cooked the holiday meals for her immediate family all by herself.
Catching fish at Ennis lake, winter drives through Yellowstone and making lunch for deer and antelope hunts was always an adventure.
Always a Democrat, she rooted for the underdog and cheered for a team with a name she liked or a place she had visited, and always wanted to know the score of the Mustangs baseball game.
Betty was a member of St. Patrick's Co-Cathedral and enjoyed riding the St. Pat's bus to Mass on Sunday with her friend Mary Lane. Thanks to John and Kala Armstrong for bringing communion every Sunday.
Birthdays and Christmas were always celebrated with money tucked inside a card to the kids and grandkids. Her favorite timepiece was the cuckoo clock in the living room. An afghan to keep her warm in the recliner and loved the long distance visits from Goldie the cat.
Betty is survived by one daughter, Lana Larsen and husband Duane of Billings; two sons, Don Regnier and wife Sandy of Billings, Jeff Regnier of Tulsa, Oklahoma, formerly of Billings; one sister Irene Crane of Sweet Home, Oregon; five grandchildren, Bart Regnier, Deanna Kidd (Pat), Bryan Regnier (Shannon), Melissa Bergerson (Justin), Michael Larsen (Julie); four great-grandchildren, Nevin, Ben, Nate and Peyton; two great
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