Betty Burns Armstrong and Edward Irvine Blincoe

EDWARD IRVINE BLINCOE, son of FRANCES BELLE IRVINE and ERNEST EDWARD BLINCOE, was born October 2, 1925,⁴⁵⁶ and died December 17, 2013 in Colorado.⁴⁵⁶ He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Fort Scott, Bourbon, Kansas.⁴⁵⁶

He married BETTY BURNS ARMSTRONG on November 25, 1949.⁹⁰⁵⁶ She was born December 13, 1929,⁹⁷⁰³ and died October 7, 2019.⁹⁷⁰³

Hutchinson News-Herald, August 14, 1949⁹⁰⁵⁶

To Wed In November

The engagement of Betty Burns Armstrong to Edward Irvine Blincoe, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest E. Blincoe of Fort Scott, is announced by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Armstrong, 407 West 19th. The wedding will be Nov. 25.

Miss Armstrong attended KU and is a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority. Mr. Blincoe was graduated from KU in June and is now petroleum engineer for Sohio Oil Co. at Edmund, Okla. He is a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity and served with the navy air corps during the war.

Wichita Eagle, December 22, 2013⁹⁰⁵⁵

Blincoe, Edward I., 88, of Highlands Ranch, Colo., passed Dec. 17, 2013. Survived by his wife of 64 years, Betty; children Edward (Susan), Bill (Marti), Melissa, Jane (Tim); seven grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. He was a well loved husband and father. Memorial Service 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 4, 2014 at VI at Highlands Ranch.

Betty A. Blincoe

December 13, 1929 - October 7, 2019

Betty is preceded in death by her parents, William H. Armstrong and Blanche B. Armstrong and husband Edward I. Blincoe.

She is survived by her children: Edward I. (Susan) Blincoe Jr., William A. (Marti) Blincoe, Melissa K. Blincoe, Jane B. (Tim) Blincoe Coulter.

Grandchildren: Edward F. Blincoe (Amy), Shane E. Bernard (Elissa), Andrew J. Bernard, Ryan E. O’Brien (Amy), Blair B. Ness (Jaron), Keller B. Battey (Louis), Camy C. Blincoe, Andrew B. Weishahn, and Molly B. Weishahn.

Great-grandchildren: Tad, Kyler, Jewelyanna and Clover Bernard. Connor and Cooper O’Brien, and Louis Battey IV.

Born shortly after the Wall Street Stock Crash of 1929 to a father who sold oil field equipment and a mother and former varsity tennis player at the University of New Mexico. Baby Betty was their only and therefore much adored offspring.

Eventually moving to Hutchinson Kansas where Betty began school. She grew up with small town values and weathered the dust bowl and depression cushioned by dutiful parents and a tight community. Graduating from Hutchinson High School in 1947.

In the fall of that same year she entered the University of Kansas as a Freshman and pledged Pi Beta Phi. At the sorority she made life long friends whom she would vacation with, live close to, and eagerly visit the rest of her days.

In 1948 she met Edward Blincoe at a sorority/fraternity mixer and dated for over a year. They were engaged and married Nov. 25, 1949 in Hutchinson KS.

Edward was a Navy Pilot and Veteran from Ft. Scott, KS. He graduated in 1949 with a degree from K.U. in Petroleum Engineering.

From Lawrence KS. to oil encampments and petroleum towns a required move every year or two was normal. Edmond OK, Houston TX, Midland TX., Sterling CO., Tulsa OK. and eventually Wichita KS.

Wichita is considered the family home during the period when her oldest three children all graduated from High School. This was also the time in which Betty captured the nursing bug. More than a bug really, nursing was as much a calling as motherhood.

“I remember her volunteering at the hospital,” stated son Edward. “When she was a candy striper or gray lady and wore a sharp uniform topped with a nurse’s style cap. I’d catch her admiring herself in the mirror. Little did I know the aspiration she imagined and plan she was hatching.”

Then at 40 – Betty took LPN Training at Wichita Practical Nursing School in Wichita. She worked at St. Francis Hospital during the first part of her nursing career.

In 1974, husband Ed, took a new job and was transferred to Denver. Ed went first to set up the move. Betty stayed behind so that Melissa and Jane could finish the school year.

Once in Denver Betty polished her nursing dream again and went to R.N. School at Presbyterian Medical Center School of Nursing. She graduated in 1977.

In 1977 Betty joined Swedish Hospital in Englewood, CO. as an assistant to the Head Nurse; setting up training seminars, workshops, and evaluations.

From 1979-1984 Betty was a RN in the OB/GYN office of Dr. James Patterson. During this period the first of the grandchildren were born. Foreign and domestic travels with her husband were extensive.

In 1985 Betty began training then teaching Lamaze Prenatal Classes at Swedish. For 2 generations of Southwest Denver Metro families. Betty was their nurse educator and guide through the thrill of childbirth.

In this duty Nurse Blincoe was not just renowned but

Accolade and Achievements came too. She was Swedish Employee of the Month, twice. In 2005 she was a nominee and finalist in the prestigious Colorado Nurse’s Foundation Florence Nightingale Awards.

In 2008 Betty and Ed moved to the VI at Highlands Ranch a retirement home and community. Both were active at this facility and Betty was informally dubbed by fellow residents as “Mayor of the VI.”

Of the many roles and titles she held, she was most proud to be wife, mother, and nana. She loved her family deeply and she was loved by them. They brought her great joy and pride. Promoting their education, encouraging their interests and sharing her heart, wisdom and wit were a part of her life on a daily basis. Her relationship with them was treasured. She will be greatly missed.

Ed passed away from Natural Causes in 2013. Betty after suffering a series of major and minor strokes succumbed on Oct. 7th, 2019. While under the care of The Denver Hospice.

The family wishes to thank the staff at the Vi at Highlands Ranch Care Center for the outstanding care they provided for over a year.

Beloved Wife, Mother, Nurse, Educator, Grandmother, and Great Grandmother.⁹⁷⁰³