Betty Sunday

Betty Rhiner Sunday, 91, of Greeley, Colorado died peacefully at home on Thursday, June 23, 2022. Betty was born May 12, 1931 in Marshalltown, Iowa to Ralph R. “Fritz” and Esther Musel Rhiner. She is survived by her brother, Ralph R. Rhiner, Jr. of Phoenix, Arizona; her children, Margaret “Peggy” Sunday of Greeley and Walter Sunday of Brooklyn, New York; granddaughter Svetlana Zwetkof of San Antonio, Texas; son-in-law Pete Zwetkof of Greeley; brother-in-law Don Hager of Tucson, Arizona; sister-in-law Lenora Brown of Marshalltown; and several nieces and nephews. Betty was preceded in death by her parents, her sister June Rhiner Hager, sister-in-law Nancy Pigg Rhiner and brother-in-law Stan Brown. Betty earned her way through Marshalltown Junior College teaching swimming lessons to children at the old YMCA-YWCA. In 1952 she married Robert “Bob” Sunday of Marshalltown. The couple moved to Illinois, where Bob was stationed at Great Lakes Naval Base and Betty completed her BA at nearby Lake Forest College. The Sundays returned to Marshalltown, raised a family and built a home designed for them by Frank Lloyd Wright. Betty and Bob later divorced, and Betty returned to academic life, completing a MA in Spanish at University of Northern Iowa and Ph.D. at University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, where she specialized in training teachers to work with bilingual students (TESL). Betty became a professor at Findlay University in Ohio, and later Western Illinois University at Macomb. In 1997, she retired to Tucson, Arizona, and in 2014 she moved to Greeley. Betty was a member of Trinity Episcopal Church, Greeley. In Tucson, she attended St. Alban’s Episcopal, where she was a lay-reader for Spanish-English services. In Macomb, she served as Senior Warden for St. George’s Anglican Church, and in Marshalltown she was a member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. Previously, she attended 1st Congregational Church in Marshalltown. Throughout her life Betty was active in cultural and educational organizations, including the Central Iowa Art Association and Marshalltown Community Theater. As a professor at WIU, she created and directed a summer school to meet educational needs of the families of migrant workers. The school enrolled about 500 children and seniors during a period of 5 years. In Tucson, Betty served as president of Suburban Women, which provides college scholarships to non-traditional nursing students. Betty was ever a gardener and lover of the natural world. In retirement she returned to her fascination with landscape painting, culminating in a solo exhibit. Please visit www.allnuttgreeley.com and mitchellfh.com to leave a remembrance and view Betty’s paintings. Betty’s children welcome family and friends to gather for a graveside service at Riverside Cemetery, Marshalltown, Iowa on Thursday, July 21, 2022 at 10:30, Fr. Richard Graves, officiating. Reception/celebration TBA. Condolences may be sent in care of Allnutt Funeral Services, Greeley, Colorado or Mitchell Family Funeral Home, Marshalltown, Iowa. Donations may be sent to the Central Iowa Art Association and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, both of Marshalltown. - lovingly written by the family