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Obituary for Betsy Jean Conrad
Betsy Jean (Ruef) Conrad, age 78, of Florence, passed away at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Edgewood, KY on Saturday, August 7, 2021. She was a homemaker and crafter, gardener and cook, singer, poet and writer, a two-term member of Florence City Council (2005-2008), member of the Florence Main Street Design Review Board and Florence Urban Forest Commission. She retired in 2004 as Florence City Clerk/Human Resources Director after 22 years of service. As one the responsibilities of that position, she served as Boone County’s Emergency Shelter Coordinator. She was named Florence Rotary Citizen of the Year in 2004 when she was honored with a Kentucky Colonel membership. She was long-serving President of both Florence Woman’s Club and the Boone County Historical Society.
She served as Secretary of the Boone County Bicentennial Committee during the late 1990s as well as on the Legacy Sub-Committee that coordinated the writing and publishing of From Mastodons to the Millennium, a comprehensive history of Boone County. At the conclusion of the Bicentennial events, she became a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Boone County Historical Society, Inc., while editing and publishing the newsletter which has enabled that organization and served as President for 6 years.
A writer of numerous essays, stories and poems, Ms. Conrad co-authored a book entitled Public Sector Privatization; Alternative Approaches to Service Delivery. A number of her essays have appeared in The Boone County Recorder.
Her many years of volunteer service also benefited the Licking Valley Girl Scout Council, Dinsmore Homestead Foundation Board, Behringer-Crawford Museum Board, Kentucky Federation of Women’s Clubs, Kentucky Commission on Women Foundation Board, Women’s Crisis Center, Kentucky Women Writers Conference, Boone County Arts Council, Friends of Gaines Tavern, Friends of Big Bone Lick State Historic Site, Florence Y’All Festival Committee, Boone County Bicentennial Committee, Strategic Planning Committee for the Boone County Public Library, and a member of the St. Luke Hospital Auxiliary. She was a long-time member of the Kentucky Municipal Clerks Association, and twice recipient of the Northern Kentucky Municipal Clerk of the Year award. She and her husband, Steve, were recipients of the Boone County Historic Preservation Review Board’s 2014 Bruce Ferguson Award. She was an active member of Boone County High School Class of 1960, and a 1991 cum laude graduate of Northern Kentucky University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Public Administration.
A Life Member of the Girl Scout Council of Licking Valley, Betsy began her Scouting career at the age of 7. In addition to having served as Troop Leader, Neighborhood Chairman, Day Camp Chairman, and many other positions, she was for many years on the Board of Directors of that organization. During 1981-82, she directed the production of an LP record with 3,000 Northern Kentucky Girl Scouts singing songs that she had taught them during the course of a year’s worth of rehearsals in schools and churches from Maysville to Carrollton.
Betsy is survived by her beloved husband of 57 years, Stephen D. Conrad; her children Daniel W. (Melissa) Conrad, Deborah J, Conrad and David B. Conrad; and dear sister Gail Ann Ruef. Betsy adored her grandchildren, Phoebe Grace Conrad, Alexander James Wergers and Christian Conrad Wergers; and many nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends, all of whom she loved dearly.
Visitation will be held on Friday, August 13, 2021, from 5-8 p.m. with a Funeral Service on Saturday, August 14, 2021 at 11 a.m. all at Stith Funeral Home, 7500 U.S. Hwy. 42, Florence, KY and Interment at Hopeful Lutheran Cemetery. Family and friends are invited to partake of a luncheon afterward at the Nature Park Event Center, 7200 Nature Park Drive, Florence, KY.
Memorials are suggested to the Dinsmore Homestead Foundation, P.O. Box 453, Burlington, KY 41005; Boone County Historical Society, P.O. Box 23, Florence, KY 41022-0023; or Dry Ridge Presbyterian Church, P.O. Box 401, Dry Ridge, KY 41035. www.dryridgepresbyterian.com
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