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Bettye B. Wise
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A chapel service will be held at 10 a.m. today at the Ceres Chapel of Franklin & Downs for Bettye Wise, 83, of Ceres. She died August 15, 2012 in Modesto.

Burial will be at Lakewood Memorial Park.

Born Bettye Bon Smith on Oct. 2, 1928 in Nesbitt, Mo., Bettye was the fourth child of William and Dollie Smith. She moved to California with her family in 1936 to work in the fruit orchards and cotton fields before settling in Ceres when her father went to work at the Richmond shipyards at the beginning of World War II. Bettye attended Ceres High School, where she participated in Glee Club, and graduated in 1946. That same year she met Olen Lee Wise and they were married on August 18, 1946. Bettye worked at Tri Valley Growers in the 1950s until 1960 when she was hired by Bank of America. In the 1970s she worked as a tax preparer until she joined her husband in running the Wise Antique Mall in 1983. Her husband, Olen, passed away in 1985 and she eventually sold the antique business, but she enjoyed it and continued to work for its new owner until they closed in 2000.

She enjoyed camping trips, swimming, water skiing, and bike riding. Mrs. Wise loved singing in the church choir and was a member of the Modesto Valley Tones branch of Sweet Adelines. She was a member of Valley Christian Center in Ceres for nearly 70 years. She served in Women's Ministries as treasurer, and making crafts and peanut brittle for fundraisers.

She leaves behind her children, Brenda Wise, Bonnie Wise, and Olen Wise, Jr.; her brother, William Smith; and her grandchildren, Jeanetta Barrows and Danny Barrows and Christopher Sawders, Nicholas Sawders, and Natalia Sawders; and her great-grandson, Nathan Barrows. She was preceded in death by husband Olen Wise, her parents, sisters Pauline Davis and Imogene Johnson;and brother Carl Smith.

To send condolences to the family visit www.franklindownsfuneralhome.com.

-Ceres Courier/ August 22, 2012