PRETTY PRAIRIE - Alice E. "Betty" Zacharias, 86, passed away Oct. 15, 2009, at Golden Plains Health Care Center, Hutchinson. She was born March 24, 1923, in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, the daughter of Edward Lorne and Veneta Anna Braun Melenbacher.
She was a longtime resident of Pretty Prairie, moving to Hutchinson in 2006. She was a homemaker and member of the New Jerusalem Church in Pretty Prairie, where she was a founder of the church Service Guild and was the longtime church organist. She was also a member of the Social Hour Club in Pretty Prairie. Betty had a lifelong interest and love of reading, quilting, gardening and music.
On May 29, 1943, she married Eric J. Zacharias on the family farm in Ayr, Ontario, Canada. He survives. Other survivors include: son, Dick Zacharias and wife Beverly, Wichita; daughters, Lynn Charlesworth and husband Bill, Williamsport, Penn., Veneta Lane and husband Elvin, Hutchinson, Becky Colbert, Urbana, Ohio; son, Ames Zacharias and wife Sue, Richland, Wash.; sister, Ann Murray, Victoria, British Columbia; and many beloved grandchildren and great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her brother, Ward Melenbacher.
Memorial service will be 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009, at the New Jerusalem Church, Pretty Prairie, with Reverend Eric J. Zacharias and granddaughter Reverend Alison Lane-Olsen presiding. Friends may sign the book 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17, through Thursday Oct. 22, 2009, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23, 2009, at the mortuary. Private family inurnment will be at Lone Star Cemetery. Memorials may be made to the New Jerusalem Church or Pretty Prairie School Scholarship Fund in care of Elliott Mortuary.