Nikiski resident, Ms. Elizabeth "Betty" VanDevere Idleman, 82, died Sunday, Dec. 23, 2018 at Central Peninsula Hospital in Soldotna.

A celebration of her life/ potluck will be held 1:00 p.m. Saturday, January 5th, 2019 at The American Legion Post #20 in Old Town Kenai. Bring a dish if you wish and lots of stories to tell about Betty. Betty was laid to rest at The Spruce Grove Memorial Park in Kasilof.

Betty was born May 10, 1937 in Narberth, Pennsylvania. In July of 1956 Betty drove up the Alcan with her husband Les Vandevere. They took up homesteading on Parsons Lake in North Kenai. She commercially gillnetted for Salmon in Cook Inlet from 1959 to 1973. She remarried to Harrel Idleman in 1978 and lived on Island Lake up until the present. Betty worked at Greenwood Dairies in Pennsylvania, Alaska State Bank in Kenai, Wade Oilfield Services in Nikiski. She ran Betty Idleman Hearing Consultant for a number of years. She also worked elections up until recently. She loved to go to Chinitna Bay with her family for all kinds of adventures. She was a member of the Totem Tracers Genealogical Society, The Moose Lodge, and was a member of the Garden and Mushroom Club.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Rodger Shupert Burns and Madge Lucille Lunger; brother, Francis Burns, uncle Clarence Edgart, and Herbert Burns; former spouse Les VanDevere and husband, Herrel Idleman.

She is survived by her sons, Lester Dyer VanDevere, III of Kasilof, Vance VanDevere of Nikiski, Bill Idleman of Nikiski and Charles Idleman; daughter, Sue Idleman; grandsons, Dyer Cassidy VanDevere of Seattle, WA, and Justin (Lillie) VanDevere of Nikiski; nephew, Rodger (Debbie) Burns of Evansville, Iowa; niece, Gene Burns Rusch.