Betty L. Chaney
OBITUARY
Betty Lou Chaney died peacefully in her sleep at home in Long Beach, California, on July 5, 2026, just shy of her 99th birthday.
She was born in Taylorville, Illinois, on July 29, 1927, to Harry and Pearl (Bechtel) Davis. Graduating from high school at 16, she was soon working as a secretary at what is now Jesse Brown VA Medical Center in Chicago. After a number of years, she transferred to a VA hospital in Long Beach, to join some nurse friends.
Her job at what is now the Tibor Roban VA Medical Center was to ensure all necessary documents were gathered and prepared before veterans underwent neurosurgery.
Here she first noticed Rudolph E. Chaney, M.D., a radiology resident. Through mutual friends, they met, started dating, and married on November 7, 1953, at All Saints Episcopal Church in Long Beach.
They had five children, including a pair of twins who were meant to be their fourth and final child. Foregoing a conventional doctor’s family life, they borrowed money from friends to buy a 1900 Queen Anne house, which stood above others one street from the beach.
In 1964, Betty and Rudy opened a private school, Carden by the Sea, because they felt no local schools could properly foster their fourth-grade son’s genius intellect.
The family never had a swimming pool, a tennis court, or expensive vehicles. They did have dogs, cats, chickens, a lamb and a capuchin monkey. A pony and a Morgan horse, purchased for two of their daughters, sent them off to Modjeska Canyon in Orange County where the entire menagerie could live in the backyard.
Betty ran the school for 20 years, closing it soon after their first grandchild was born.
Over the course of her marriage of almost 50 years, Betty was active in PTA, Republican candidate campaigns, Woman’s Auxiliary to the Long Beach Medical Association, Meals on Wheels, and Literacy for English Learners. She studied floral design and played the piano throughout her life.
Betty was a force to be reckoned with. She had endless energy and always put it to good use.
Betty is survived by her son, Brian; her daughters, Susan (Tim Bulone), Mary Alice, and Mary Ellen Kirkchaney (Susan); her grandsons, Dominic Bulone (Alma Riego) and Rudy Chaney (Ashley Boyd); her great-grandchildren, Kimberley, Nico, and Walter Boyd Chaney; and numerous nieces and nephews, some of whom loved her dearly.
She was preceded in death by her husband in 2001, her daughter Nancy (Bob Peck), her granddaughter Whitney Reyes, two sisters, and one brother.
The family extends its deepest gratitude to her caregivers from Care to Stay Home, her neighbor Laila, and her friend Rosemary, who made it possible for Betty to live in her own home until her death.
Betty’s ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean on July 25, 2026.