Betty (Schwartz) Dick, aged 89 of
Newton, Kansas died peacefully on June 12, 2022 at Presbyterian Manor
in Newton. Betty was born on Oct. 8, 1932, in Ulysses, Kansas to
Milton and Sadie (Wedel) Schwartz. She grew up on the family
homestead just outside Pretty Prairie. She graduated from Pretty
Prairie High School, then earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Organ
from Bethel College in 1954. As she was the only trained organist in
the church, Betty was instrumental together with her Uncle ?Pete
Shorty? Schwartz in acquiring and installing the first pipe organ
in the First Mennonite Church in Pretty Prairie. She was the first
church organist and served in that role for many years. Family lore
says that once the organ was installed and Betty played at its
dedication, Uncle Pete Shorty said, ?Now I can die happy since we
have the organ.? The church is located on land the Schwartz family
homesteaded in 1884. While at Bethel, Betty met and married her
husband, Arthur Dick, M.D., in 1954 and was active in theater at
Bethel and performed Handel?s Messiah on Organ on more than one
occasion.
Betty taught music in various schools
around central Kansas, then moved to Baltimore, Maryland when Art
served in the U.S. Army at Edgewood Arsenal. During the posting,
Betty taught elementary school music and served as the base?s
chapel organist. The couple remained in Maryland for Art to complete
his medical degree at the University of Maryland Medical School,
moving to the Kansas suburbs of Kansas City in 1965 when Art began
his medical internship at the University of Kansas Medical School in
Kansas City, Kansas, where he later joined the Department of
Neurology faculty. Betty stayed busy raising the couple?s two
daughters, Amy (Dick) Morgan and Julie (Dick) Sparks, both born in
the late 1960s. Betty also led children?s choir at Village
Presbyterian Church.
Betty lived most of her adult life on
68th Street in Prairie Village, moving only to Newton four years ago
when her younger daughter, Julie?s, husband, Jeff Sparks, accepted
the position as Pastor of Newton?s St. Luke Evangelical
Presbyterian Church. Betty loved her family, music, art, cats,
sunflowers, and most of all. children. She taught pre-school for
decades retiring only when she had reached 80. She started teaching
in the early 1970s at Ward Parkway Presbyterian Preschool, spent a
year teaching a music and art appreciation class for her grandsons,
then taught preschool close to another decade at Colonial
Presbyterian Church, the congregation she joined in the late 1980s.
Generations of children can now read, write, sing and follow
instructions due to her dedication and talents.
Betty was known to remember her
friends? and family members? birthdays and special occasions with
thoughtful, handwritten cards. She loved attending church and sharing
fellowship with other women at Bible studies. Everyone was captivated
by Betty?s bright smile and infectious laugh.
Betty was preceded in death by her
father, Milton, and her mother, Sadie (Wedel). She is survived by her
husband, Arthur Dick, M.D.; daughters Julie (Dick) Sparks (Jeff) of
Newton; Amy (Dick) Morgan (Steve), of San Antonio; and two grandsons
in Texas, Michael Morgan and Jack Morgan; as well as sisters Teresa
(Schwartz) Zielke of Newton, Edna Ruth (Schwartz) Kemp of Pretty
Prairie, and brother Jerold Schwartz of Denver.
A memorial service will be held at 10
a.m., Wednesday, June 15, at Petersen Funeral Home of Newton, Kansas.
Online condolences may be made at www.petersenfamilyfuneralhome.com.
Memorial donations may be made to St.
Luke Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Newton or Ward Parkway
Presbyterian Preschool in Kansas City, Missouri.
