Mrs. Bettie Hewett Hilligass

Mrs. Bettie Hewett Hilligass
Born June 12, 1915 in Santa Ana. 5th generation California native.

[Photo to be added soon]

Hilligass, Helen Elizabeth Hewitt "Bettie"

Helen Elizabeth Hewitt Hilligass "Bettie", who had
been in declining health for the past year, died
October 21, 2006 at the age of 90.

She was born June 12, 1915 in Santa Ana, California
to Roscoe Gulick Hewitt and Clara Duggan Hewitt,
both natives of Santa Ana. She was a fifth-generation
Orange County resident whose roots go back to her great-great-grandfather, Noah Palmer, an educator,
forty-niner and banker who came to Santa Ana in
1873 when he acquired 1765 acres of the Santiago
de Santa Ana Grant.

She attended Lathrop Junior High School, Rowland
Hall in Salt Lake City, Utah and graduated from
Santa Ana High School in 1933.

That year she met her late husband, Frank Earl
Hilligrass and they were married June 7, 1934.
They were married 66 years.

During World War II, she returned to her
parent's home on Bonnie Brae in Santa Ana for
four years while her husband served overseas
in Europe in the Army. She worked for National
Cash Register in Santa Ana and also helped as
a hostess at Daniger's Tea Room. She was a
member of the First Presbyterian Church in
Santa Ana for over 50 years and a member
of the Kiwanis Club of Santa Ana in which
she and her late husband assisted in many
fund raising efforts for the youth of Santa
Ana. She was a long-time member of the Santa
Ana Country Club where she spent many afternoons
playing bridge with friends.

She spent many decades in the Santa Ana Ebell
Society in various sections and also was a
member of the DAR along with her mother and
grandmother. She especially enjoyed reading,
knitting and needlepoint.

She and her husband loved to travel visiting
numerous countries in Europe, Asia, South
America, the Middle East and circled the
globe twice. This was followed by induction
into the Circumnavigators Club based in New
York City, an organization in which she was
a life-member.

She enjoyed talk radio and she and her late
husband took several trips with radio
personalities Ken and Bob of KABC in Los
Angeles.

She was a long-time member of the Orange
County Pioneer Council and completed an
oral history for them and California State
University at Fullerton in 1995 on life
in early Orange County.

She also recorded a family history for
the Santa Ana Courthouse book.

In her later years, her long-time friends,
Ann Knott Giannini, Nick and Reccie Van Wyck
and most especially Jean and George Upton
were continuing source of support and comfort.

She is survived by her daughter Kathie Moore
of Forest Falls and Palm Springs and her son,
Richard of Salt Lake City and Honolulu.

Interment was held at Fairhaven Memorial Park
in Santa Ana. A memorial service was held at
Fairhaven Memorial Park on Friday, Oct. 27,
at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers the family
requests that donations be made to the
Foundation for Handicapped Children of
the Santa Ana Kiwanis Club, PO Box 1256,
Santa Ana, CA 92702.
Fairhaven Mortuary, Santa Ana, CA

Published in the Orange County Register on
10/28/2006.

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