Betty Payte
May 29, 1931 - June 15, 2023
Betty (Klein) Payte, 92, of Golden, Colorado, passed away peacefully on Thursday, June 15.
Betty was born May 29, 1931, in Dallas, Texas, to William and Winnifred Klein. The family soon moved to Mobridge, South Dakota, and when she was eleven, moved to Colorado where she lived for the rest of her life.
Betty went to Wheat Ridge High School but dropped out with one credit remaining, to marry Harold in 1948. When she was thirty years old, she went back to school to earn her diploma in a classroom of teenagers. It was then she discovered her great love for learning, driven by her eternal curiosity about everything and everyone, which never waned. Over the years, she started many businesses on her own and with Harold.
Her work life was colorful, starting at the age of six delivering milk bottles to the townspeople, then at age ten picking up bobby pins in a beauty parlor. Early jobs also included delivering newspapers via horseback.
Betty also started a few of her own businesses, the first was called Window Wise Draperies, a business she started with Harold’s sister, Nelline.
Eventually, she and Harold bought a chain of Dairy Queens, and she discovered her skill developing young workers—many of whom stayed in touch with her through the decades, sharing stories that this was the best job they ever had.
It was her boundless curiosity that moved her to learn therapeutic touch, a form of bodywork in which the practitioner works with the patient’s body energy, clearing and directing that energy toward balance and self-healing. Naturally, she dove into classes to learn more, eventually asking the instructor if she could shadow her in her practice. Betty went on to start her own therapeutic touch business, growing a healthy client base entirely from word of mouth.
Curiosity remained the driving force in Betty’s 92 years as her interests and hobbies piled up to include quilting, scuba diving, geocaching, and traveling the world with Harold.
One day, she saw an ad in the paper about learning how to fly. With that deeply embedded curiosity, she tucked the paper under her arm, grabbed her jacket, and started heading for the door. Harold asked where she was going, and when she said she was going to learn how to fly a plane, he decided he had better keep up with her. So, at the age of 52, they earned their pilot’s licenses.
At age 67, she and Harold, despite never having biked before, joined an eight-day trip from Germany to Vienna. That was the catalyst for them starting a cycling club with friends, and for ten years they led long bike trips, including the Katy Trail through Missouri and the Mickelson Trail through the Black Hills of South Dakota. Every fall for ten years, they toured by bike, creating some of her most treasured memories.
One of Betty’s favorite hobbies was her love of walking, that started with racewalking. She won competitive races all over the country and became a trainer. Additionally, Betty won numerous Bolder Boulder races in her age categorie(s).
Her love of walking continued, and she and Harold led community Golden Walks in their beloved hometown, for five years. That love of community earned them the Mayor’s Award of Golden in 2016 for serving as inspiring role models and ambassadors “for healthy living and walking in Golden.”
This colorful life, started from humble beginnings and filled with such diverse life experiences, inspired Betty’s friends, and family to convince her to write her memoir. In 2019, at the age of 89, she released Always Betty: One Woman’s Romp Through Life with Grit, Wit, and Wisdom.
In the last lines of her story, Betty expressed to her grandchildren how she lived. We can all learn from her wisdom: “Have the curiosity to learn to do things you know nothing about but want to learn. Find the persistence to see things through, never giving in to procrastination. Above all else, never, never give up. Always remember, you were meant to be here. Don’t take life too seriously. Discover the joy in your lives. Look for it. And bloom on!”
She is survived by her husband of 74 years, Harold, daughter Amy (Jim) Clark, granddaughters Jamie (Kenny Lee) Clark and Kellie Clark, grandsons Aaron Dierks and Matthew Dierks, and sister Nancy Blair.
Betty was preceded in death by her daughter, Patty Dierks, her grandson, Eric Hans Dierks, and her brother Bill Klein.
Betty’s love of walking had more to do with the organic bonding of strangers into friends and brought to life her defining quote, “Walk beside me and be my friend.”
In her honor, Walk Beside Me: Celebrating the Life and Stories of Betty Payte, will be held Sunday, July 16, at 10am at New Loveland Mine Park in Golden.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Betty's name to the Flatirons Chamber Music Festival: Crossing the Divide. www.FlatIronsCMF.org
Celebration of Life
Sunday, July 16, 2023
10 am
New Loveland Mine Park
Walk Beside Me: Celebrating the Life and Stories of Betty Payte.
There is nothing more that Betty loved than the gathering of friends to walk together and have an organic bond through conversation. So please join us on Sunday, July 16, at 10am to do just that.
Make a Donation
In lieu of flowers, please consider giving a donation in Betty's name to the Flatirons Chamber Music Festival that she loved so much.
