Beloved wife, mother, aunt, grandmother and great-grandmother. Elizabeth Lucille “Betsy” Schramel passed away peacefully at her home in Quincy on Jan. 9, 2024, at the age of 91.
Born in 1932 in Plainfield, New Jersey, Elizabeth was known as Betsy to her family and many friends. She was the daughter of Hazel Creveling and Wilbur Clark and was raised with her older brothers Jimmy, Buddy, and her twin brother Bobby.
Betsy met her husband John in Saratoga Springs, New York, where she attended Skidmore College and John was stationed in the U.S. Air Force. Betsy graduated in the spring of 1954 with degrees in art and education. They were married days after she graduated in June 1954, and began a cross-country honeymoon road trip in a classic woody station wagon. That adventure started at the family cottage on the Jersey shore and ended at Lake Tahoe. From there they made their way west to their first home on Red Robin Lane in Sacramento, California.
Betsy raised their newborn daughter Lee Anne while John completed his service enlistment at McClellan Air Force Base. They next moved to San Francisco across from Golden Gate Park while John attended the University of San Francisco. The family grew four more feet when sons Mark and David were born. A priest at USF mentioned to John a magical place called Plumas County where the fly fishing was incredible, and the rest was history.
In 1959, the family moved to Greenville, where John took his career teaching position at Greenville High School, and son Paul and daughter Suzanne were born. While her children were young, Betsy worked as a substitute teacher, and taught poetry and drama workshops in many classrooms. She volunteered as a club and project leader with the Indian Head 4-H Club, and kept the family home. In the early 1980s, Betsy began a decade-plus tenure as the librarian at Quincy Elementary School, inspiring hundreds of elementary students each year to share her love of reading and providing a safe, quiet space for children. She retired from Plumas Unified School District in 1992 and then worked for two years as the Greenville public librarian. She finally retired altogether to enjoy more travel, her ever-growing brood of grandchildren, and her many hobbies and community and civic service organizations.
Betsy’s deepening love of community and education grew with her service on the location search committee for Feather River College in the late 1960s, when she also served as a member of the FRC governing board. In the mid-1970s, she served several terms as an elected board member for the new Greenville Community Services District. She was one of the founders of the Greenville Cy Hall Memorial Museum and spent many years as a board member. She was also a founding member and past president of the Plumas County Arts Commission; president of the Greenville-Lake Almanor branch of AAUW (American Association of University Women); member of Delta Kappa Gamma (an honor society of women educators); and was the 1969 Soroptimist “Woman of the Year” in Greenville as well. She was a long-time member of the Plumas County Planning Commission, retiring only after the latest county General Plan revision was completed in 2013.
In her later years, Betsy’s greatest joys were her family and her participation in many local clubs both in Indian Valley and the greater Plumas County area. She could regularly be found nose-deep in a newspaper article on silver teapots for a presentation to the Antique Club, annotating a novel for her next book club meeting, or her treasured Sierra Study Club, an organization of Indian Valley ladies which have been meeting for over 70 years.
In 2021, Betsy’s life changed forever when her home of 55 years was destroyed in minutes by the Dixie Fire. Never one to complain, she simply packed her most prized possessions: photos of her family, cat Sally, many binders of historical documents, and documentation of all her antiques. She was evacuated for several weeks like many, many others. Her final two-and-a-half years were spent in downtown Quincy on the same street as her youngest daughter. She missed her beloved Greenville and sweeping views of Indian Valley but resiliently embraced living in the county seat. First Friday art openings (especially Sally Posner, Sally Yost, and Levi Mullen) were a favorite occasion, as were the many visits from family, other Indian Valley refugees, and Quincy friends. Simple events such as the Soroptimist Solstice Garden Tour, long drives to see the fall colors along Chandler and La Porte roads, and the ever-changing roadwork on the drive back to see Greenville rebuilding were the fabric of her life.
Betsy is survived by her adult children, including Lee Anne Schramel, of Greenville; Mark and Carol; David and Merri Schramel, of Taylorsville; Suzanne and Scott Schramel-Stirling, of Quincy; daughter-in-law Sidney (Paul) Schramel, of Roseville; seven grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren; five nieces on the east coast and in Hawaii; and her beloved Sally Cat. She was preceded in death by her husband John Schramel and son Paul Schramel.
A celebration of Betsy’s life will take place Saturday, March 30 from 2 to 5 PM at the Historic Taylorsville Hall. All who knew and loved Betsy are welcome to attend. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Schramel Memorial Library Fund, in care of Plumas Strong, PO Box 1052, Greenville, CA 95947.