Beatrice May Heidelberger's Obituary
On January 28th 2025 after waking from her morning nap, Beatrice (Betty) May Heidelberger, asked for a piece of pie and hot chocolate with whipped cream. Just a short time later at the age of 97 in the comfort of her home, the Heavenly angels came for Betty as it was time to receive her wings.
Betty was born on February 6th, 1927 in Salt Lake City, Utah. She was the oldest of 3 children born to Frank and Edith Bailey. Her father was an engineer who worked for the railroad. This brought them to move frequently and she loved telling stories about her train rides and the many different places she lived in as a child. From an early age, she was a natural born designer and seamstress. Around the age of 17, JCPenny’s asked her to come to New York to further develop her talent as a designer. As this was a great opportunity, unfortunately her father did not approve of her moving to New York. At the age of 19, she married John Heidelberger and shortly later moved to California and settled in Placerville. John was able to get a job at McClellan Air Force Base a few years later and they purchased land across the street from Camp Kohler. Betty was also employed at McClellan for a period of time working on planes in the late 40’s early 50’s. As they decided to start building houses on the property, Betty gave up her job and became the foreman/worker for the build. John would give her a list of tasks to be done during the day. No task was too great for her - framing, sheet rock, painting, designing and such. Together they built 3 houses on the property for which they lived in the one house for the remainder of their years together.
Betty and John loved having their nieces, nephews, and family friend’s children around as they did not have children of their own in their earlier years of marriage. A great opportunity came up in the mid 60’s when their prayers were answered and they were able to start a family of their own by adopting 2 girls. They lived their lives for their girls and enjoyed supporting them in all that they did. Betty’s love for children was never ending. Now that all the houses were built, Betty worked as a child care provider so that she could spend more time with her girls. She continued watching after children even into her early 80’s.
She had many passions including old western movies, playing cards, reading, crafts, cooking, sewing, baking, Yahtzee, Lottery scratchers and enjoying time with family. Many of you that knew her well most likely had her make your birthday cakes, bridal dress, or wedding cake. Here again, there was no task that was too great and she was resourceful when it came to cakes, designing clothing or anything crafty. When she was a young teen, she asked her mother for material to make clothes for her baby doll. Her mother did not buy her material. So, Betty became resourceful and found the material herself in her mother’s closet and cut enough material from her mom’s dress to make her clothing. Her mother didn’t know about it until she was wearing the dress to head out to a formal and there was a piece missing off the back of the dress. Her mother bought her material from there on out. There were moments such as when she made a dress for her daughter Tammy for a ball that she designed to match a dress of Hope’s from an episode of Days of Our Lives. Or the vest that her son-in-law wore at the wedding that was made from a pair of deconstructed silk boxers. Or the hours upon hours she spent beating on all the skating dresses. She was a very talented artist.
Betty is preceded in death by her husband, John Heidelberger, Mother, Edith Bailey; father, Frank R. Bailey; Brothers Frank Bailey and Ronald Bailey; and many brother & sister-in-laws and friends. She is survived by her children Barbara Heidelberger, Tammy Donnel, and son-in-law Kerry Donnel; granddaughters Angela Wood, April Donnel-Varner and Melissa Donnel; numerous great grandchildren, great-great granddaughter Cari, and way too many nieces and nephews to name. She is also survived by her sister-in-laws Jean Bailey of Stead, NV and Rose Adams of Payette, ID.
A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday February 15th at 1:00pm at the American Legion Post 521 at 6700 8th Street, Rio Linda, CA 95673. Lunch will be provided. As Betty was full of life, please wear colors to match life and/or floral patterns and bring your favorite stories about her. The family asks that in lieu of flowers you bring a scratcher or two. The family will donate any proceeds from the scratchers to Betty’s favorite charity.
Betty will be laid to rest next to her husband, John, in Payette, Id, later in the spring.
What’s your fondest memory of Beatrice?
What’s a lesson you learned from Beatrice?
Share a story where Beatrice's kindness touched your heart.
Describe a day with Beatrice you’ll never forget.
How did Beatrice make you smile?