Betty A. Riedner

Betty Ann Riedner (Beresh) died unexpectedly, but peacefully in her favorite chair, the evening of January 4, 2023.

Betty was born on May 25, 1947 in Delavan, WI to Alex and Myrtle (Persson) Beresh. There she grew up with her two older brothers Larry and Don in a house Alex built himself. Although she often complained that she was teased a lot by her brothers, she loved them both very much and had a great childhood living by the lake. She developed many lasting friendships in Delavan.

She met Robert (Bob) Riedner while working at Marquette University where he was a student. They married in August 12, 1967. Bob and Betty enjoyed playing tennis together, watching Wisconsin sports, drinking Miller Lite beer, and listening to Neil Diamond. They had two children, Bobbie and Brady, who they raised with more love, support, and freedom to make mistakes than any kids could ever want.

Betty was keenly intelligent and ingenious when it came to her projects, and the attribute she was probably most proud of was being “clever”. She was always coming up with some fantastically unique way to execute her plans with meticulous detail. She would make kolaches on a cutting board grid and adorn them with flavor specific flags and heating instructions. Another favorite craft of Betty’s was to give mystery Christmas gifts, wrapping clues in multiple boxes to make the recipient guess the actual gift. She was also a bit of an accounting whiz.

When Bobbie and Brady started having their own kids, Betty, or Mimi, turned her creative talents toward entertaining her grandchildren. She always had some cool project for them to do, like creating intricate fairy houses or making their own crafty Father’s Day gifts.

After Bob retired from GE, he and Mimi bought an RV and started spending more time in Arizona. They eventually bought a permanent “mobile” home near Superstition Mountain. There they enjoyed hiking a lot and became avid pickleball aficionados. Mimi spent her spare time finding cool new ways to spruce up their home away from home.

Unfortunately, Bob died recently in June 2022 after a several year battle with a progressive neurodegenerative disease. Betty was looking forward to having a little “Mimi time” after the stress of taking care of him. She was still working on home projects and organization, enjoyed walking almost every day with neighbors, and was talking about starting to play pickleball again with her good friend Gus.
Mimi repeatedly expressed, even long before her passing, that no one should ever feel bad for her when she died, as she felt incredibly fortunate throughout her life. She wanted everyone to try to live in the precious present.

Betty is survived by her two children, Bobbie (Bruno) Lutz and Brady (Jennifer) Riedner, her grandchildren Züri and Spider Lutz and Claire Riedner, and her brother Donald Beresh (Sharon). Unfortunately, she lost her oldest brother Larry in 1985 to cancer and her father in 1990, both sooner than she hoped. She was also preceded in death by her gritty and sharp-witted mother Myrtle and the rest of the Golden Girls aunts, except Mildred Luallen – whom she planned to see once she started feeling better.

Mimi was one of a kind and will be forever missed. For her sake, we that hope that polka’s most controversial celestial claim was wrong “in heaven there is NO beer” and that no one up there ever wants to play Pictionary. There will be a celebration of Betty’s life this Summer. Donations can be made to the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at www.adrc.wisc.edu/give .