Betty M. Ihlenfeldt

Betty Marie (nee Kintgen) Ihlenfeldt passed away on Saturday, June 22, 2019 at Applewood Nursing Center, after a short stay in the City of Woodhaven, MI. Betty was born on February 6, 1923 in Gaastra, MI, the daughter of the late Eugene and Beryl Kintgen.  Betty attended Gaastra Grade School and the Palatka School through the eighth grade.  She graduated with honors from Ishpeming High School in 1941. On December 3, 1941, Betty left home to travel to the Detroit area.  She worked at Fort Wayne Complex in Detroit at first.  Along the way she worked at war factories.  In 1943 she found herself working at Romulus Army Air Base (now the Metro Airport) and was known as the voice of the air base.  During this time she met her husband to be, Wilber Ihlenfeldt, a farm boy, who lived in the area.  After the War, Wilbur, with Betty’s help, went into the restaurant business.  Daly Restaurant grew to number 23 and was well known in the area for the next six decades.  Throughout her life, she had a strong faith in God and a passion to learn everything she could.  At an early age, money was nowhere to be seen, so it took a while to graduate from Gogebic Community College in the 1970s and she also spent some time at Ferris State and Northern Michigan University. In 1978 she moved back to the Detroit area when her son also moved back to help is Dad, who was not in good health.  During her lifetime, Betty Marie worked for a Dean of College at Ferris and a Vice President at Ford, at the glass house world headquarters in Dearborn, MI. Her passion for learning continued as she graduated from the University of Michigan-Dearborn in 1986.  She attended the U of M Dearborn from 1979-2013, stopping at 90 years of age.  At the time of her death, she had more books at her house than a small library.  Her passion never waned, only death could stop her.  A life well lived! Betty is survived by her son and nephews, Robert (Mary Ann) Lundquist of Gaastra, MI and Dale (Kay) Kintgen of Littleton, CO.  Mother, I loved you with all my heart. –Your Son Private family services were held. Funeral arrangements were by the Howe-Peterson Funeral Home in Taylor, MI and the Jacobs Funeral Home of Iron River.  To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Betty M. Ihlenfeldt, please visit our flower store.