Betty Jean Haag Heiner

RUPERT – Betty Jean Haag Heiner, an 85-year-old resident of Rupert, Idaho, and previously of Filer, Chubbuck, and Burley, Idaho, passed away on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2014, about 9:15 a.m. at her daughter’s home in Rupert, after a courageous battle with myelodysplastic syndrome, a blood disorder, and heart disease. Loving family members and friends were not far off.

Betty Jean was born April 8, 1928, in Burley, Idaho. It was Easter Sunday. She was the oldest living daughter and third child born to Eric Gust Haag and Edith Leone Anderson Haag. One of her siblings, a sister, was stillborn. She grew up in Burley on a one-acre farm on the hill by Pleasant View Cemetery where she learned to work and play with gusto. Betty Jean attended schools in Burley, graduating from Burley High School in 1946. After high school, she worked at the telephone office in Burley for several years. Betty Jean married her “honey” Carl Anthony Heiner, in Burley on Aug. 20, 1948. Their marriage was solemnized in the Salt Lake LDS Temple on Oct. 20, 1949, when their oldest daughter, Terri Lee, was three months old.

Betty Jean lived in various locations throughout her married life. Carl’s employment as a heavy duty mechanic required him to be wherever his employer had a construction contract. They lived in Helena, Mont.; Portland, Ore.; Brigham City, Utah, and always coming back to Burley, Idaho, where each of her eight children were born. The family’s final move was to Chubbuck, Idaho, where Betty and Carl lived for 28 years. She then moved to Filer with her daughter, Marla, until Carl passed away. After that, Betty moved to Rupert where she lived in Sunset Manor for the last five years.

Betty Jean is survived by her eight children, Terri Lee (Alton) Johnson of Rupert, Idaho, Allen Craig (Penny) Heiner of Ogden, Utah, Paula Jean (Vincent) Randazzo of Chubbuck, Idaho, Daniel C (Laura) Heiner of Chubbuck, Sandy Ann Gritton of Twin Falls, Idaho, Marla Leone (Mel) Carnell of Filer, Idaho, Eric Carl (Cyd) Heiner of Ririe, Idaho, and Isaac Glenn Heiner of Pocatello. She has 35 grandchildren and 73 great-grandchildren. Also surviving is her sister, Carleen Heidel of Nampa.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Carl Anthony Heiner; her parents, Eric and Leone Haag; her brother, Max Haag and his wife Donna; her sister, Julia Holland; and a daughter-in-law, Ruth Hurd Heiner.

The family would like to thank Minidoka Home Health and Hospice for their tender and kindly care of Betty prior to her death. A special thank you to her RN, Suzanne Cook.

The funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 15, at the Rupert LDS Stake Center, 324 E. 18th St., in Rupert, with Bishop Kelly Allen officiating. Burial will be in the Rupert Cemetery.

Friends may call from 6 until 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14, at the Rasmussen Funeral Home, 1350 E. 16th St., in Burley, and from 10 until 10:45 a.m. Saturday at the church.