Cecile Betts was born Nov. 4, 1917, in New York City, the ninth child of Harris Goldstein and Minnie Margolies Goldstein. She passed away Oct. 10 in Laguna Niguel, Calif., from lung cancer. Her daughter was at her side.

After her mother died in a stove explosion when Cecile was 2, her older sisters became her surrogate mothers, and the family moved to New Jersey. Very shy as a child, she became an avid reader. She actually taught herself to read when very young but didn’t let her sisters know lest they stop reading her bedtime stories.

At 10, Cecile contracted rheumatic fever, decades before any antibiotic treatment existed. Chilling body wraps were used to bring her fever down and still the disease took its toll. She spent more than two years in a convalescent hospital, too weak to take care of herself, but read voraciously at every opportunity. When she returned to school, she was skipped two grades and able to rejoin her age group. In 1936 she graduated from Battin High School in Elizabeth, N.J., in the top 10 percent of her class and then attended New Jersey College for Women for two years. In 1942 Cecile married Vincent Steers in Miami and soon relocated to the Seattle area. Two years later would come one of the biggest changes in her life. Vince was an enthusiastic outdoorsman and when the opportunity arose to move to Alaska, he grabbed it. Cecile soon found herself in the rugged setting of pre-statehood Alaska, with two small children, a very dramatic change from her life to that point. Gone were indoor plumbing, electricity, reliable transportation, telephone and nearby neighbors. Instead she learned to pump well water with a hand pump, cook on a wood-burning stove, use kerosene lanterns, and rely on messages transmitted on Mukluk Radio instead of phone service.

Divorced in 1953, she married Jack Betts in May of 1959, and together they operated King Mt. Lodge at Mile 77 of the Glenn Highway for many years. Army troops participating in winter maneuvers used the lodge as their official rest stop, and some stayed throughout the length of maneuvers for maintenance and support. The lodge was well-known for its wild game barbecues twice a year that often drew crowds over 1,000.

Her occupations included:

• Swimming instructor at Grand Street Settlement House Camp in New York

• Governess

• Clerk typist for Alaska Territorial Dept. of Health

• Keypunch operator

• President of North Star School PTA in Spenard

• Medical transcriber

• Poet

• Author

• Community activist in Spenard’s early politics

• Co-owner and operator of King Mt. Lodge

• Boarding care parent to four Native boys from remote villages who attended high school in Wasilla

• Scrabble teacher for Braille students

• Motivational speaker

Organizations: Girl Scouts, Jr. Hadassah, Hadassah, National Press Club, Leisure World Writer’s Club, National Scrabble Association, Riverbend Homemakers Club in Willow, Alzheimer’s Support Group, Pulmonary Rehab Education Program, Laguna Woods Scrabble Club

Hobbies: Swimming, skin-diving, travel, Scrabble, Cribbage, Canasta, crocheting, theater, snowmobiling, square dancing, crafts, moose nugget jewelry, seashell lamps and other gifts, genealogy, white water rafting, cruising, keeping in touch with family and long time friendships – some dating back to grade school.

Adversities: Never knowing her mother, pioneering life in Alaska in 1947 with two small children and family on East Coast, triple bypass, pacemaker, husband afflicted with Alzheimer’s, her own colon cancer, blindness, and lung cancer. Perseverance is indeed her middle name. Blindness was the most difficult to accept, mostly because she could no longer read, but she accepted it, shifted gears and adapted.

Accomplishments: Cecile was instrumental in establishing:

• Hot lunch program in Alaska’s public schools

• First school bus system in Alaska

• First law to eliminate wild dog packs and initiate animal control

• Training program for employees in skilled nursing sections of state-operated Pioneer Homes to specifically meet the needs of Alzheimer’s patients

• First Road Improvement Act at Nancy Lake

• Legislation limiting commercial development of the lakefront at Nancy Lake, preserving the pristine beauty of the area

• Restriction on number of bars in Anchorage by enforcing compliance with regulations

• Scrabble classes for completely blind and visually impaired at Braille Institute

Later, after being blinded by macular degeneration, she:

• Lived independently until she went on hospice care in June, 2009.

• Volunteered at Braille Institute in Anaheim weekly

• Played in Scrabble tournaments

• Organized and accompanied two tours to Alaska for friends, three of whom were blind

• Wrote and published two books: “Reluctant Pioneer” (the story of her 46 years in Alaska) and “Random Thoughts While Contemplating My Navel in a Hot Tub”

• Published articles in the “Blind Californian,” “Wine Spectator,” and annual editions of “Reflections,” sponsored by the Saddleback College Emeritus Program, Mission Viejo, Calif.

Widowed in 1993, she is survived by her son, Donald T. Steers of Santa Rosa, Calif., her daughter, Martha L. Shabsin of Laguna Niguel, Calif., grandson Douglas M. Shabsin, granddaughters Diana L. Shabsin and Nicolle Griffin, great-grandsons James M. Gallipeau and Dallin A. Griffin, great-granddaughters Catrina L. Boettner and Samara L. Wiedmeyer, and many nieces, nephews and cousins.

A memorial service is being held at Pacific View Memorial Park, 3500 Pacific View Dr., Corona del Mar, Calif., 92625. The family has requested donations in lieu of flowers to either the Braille Institute, 527 N. Dale Ave., Anaheim, Calif., 92801, 714-821-5000, www.brailleinstitute.org or the American Cancer Society, 1-800-227-2345, www.cancer.org.