Betty Jane Hoogenboom

Betty Jane Hoogenboom of Goshen, Indiana, lived for 102 years and 4 days, and at this very moment is experiencing joy beyond our wildest dreams. Jesus welcomed Betty into His arms in Heaven on March 7, 2025, in the company of those waiting eagerly to greet her, including beloved husband James (Jim) R. Hoogenboom, parents Hester M. and Lewis W. Johnson, brother Stanley L. Johnson, and granddaughter Erin Kathleen Riley.

Betty was born on March 3rd, 1923, in the middle of the Great Depression — an experience that helped shape her into a family-loving tornado of work ethic, creativity, resilience, and pioneer spirit. She attended Goshen High School and landed her first job at the South Side Soda shop at age 16. She later worked at Erickson Pharmacy downtown, notable not for the pay (10 cents per hour) but rather the clientele, in particular a handsome football and basketball player named Jim for whom she made extra special milkshakes. Jim volunteered for the Army and World War II effort in 1941, and the two married at Camp Lejeune in Lancaster, SC, on May 9, 1942. Jim shipped out three days later as part of the top-secret operation known as D-Day — Betty wouldn’t see him again until the war ended in 1945. Jim was part of all major battles in the European Theater, including Wave 2 at Omaha Beach in Normandy and service at the Battle of the Bulge that earned him a Bronze Star Medal for Bravery. During those years, Betty worked in local factories that supported the war effort and established their first apartment. When Jim returned from the War, the couple began to raise their family and purchased not a house but an empty lot on Lake Papakeechie. While considered “financially irresponsible” by some, this decision set the stage for decades of happy memories at the lake with family and friends. They later purchased a home in Goshen, and Betty started the Mother Goose Nursery School in her home — only the second nursery school in Goshen at the time — that later became the Brenneman Day Care Center located inside the Brenneman Missionary Church. She ran the daycare for many years. Hundreds of Goshen area children learned songs written by “Aunt Betty,” memorized Bible verses and learned how to skip well into her 90s. Aunt Betty would frequently look the other way when families couldn’t afford the cost of day care, and she loved the naughty kids the best.

Betty loved God, her family, children, baking, and knitting. She walked with Jesus and her Bible lay open within easy reach, tattered and worn from much daily use. Even when the passing of time had softened her memory, Betty never failed to inquire if anyone needed a cup of coffee or a bite to eat. Through the great joys and the challenges of her life, Betty’s mindset was one of faithful obedience and deep gratitude to God. She wanted to use the opportunity of her obituary to tell you that because of Jesus’ great love for all of us, death has lost its sting!

Betty is survived by daughter Jennifer (Dr. Donald) Riley of Victoria, Minnesota; son Rev. James L. (Becky) Hoogenboom of Goshen, Indiana; four grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; longtime addition to the family, David (Deb) Parcell of Goshen ; and seven grand-dogs.

Betty’s Celebration of Life will be at 1:00pm March 24, Yoder-Culp Funeral Home, Goshen, and burial will follow at Violett Cemetery, Goshen.

Visitation will precede the service from noon to 1:00pm that same day.

In lieu of flowers or memorials, the family requests that you join us in honoring Betty’s memory by reading the Bible — any book, any verse — and asking God to show you what He would like you to know about Him.