Emily "Betty" Harvey, beloved grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, aunt, friend and mother, having touched so many lives in Custer, Rochford, and throughout the Hills, died in the body, Saturday, September 5, 2015, at Custer Regional Hospital at the age of 93.

Born Emily Elizabeth Barker to Lyle and Bea Barker on April 9, 1922, at Gimlet Creek, near Rochford, South Dakota. To family and friends from early life she is known and loved as "Betty." She graduated from Deadwood High School, served in the US Navy in Washington DC during World War II, and returned to study at and graduate from Black Hills Teachers College. Emily met her husband Verne Lee Harvey at BHTC in Spearfish. They moved to Richland, Washington, where they taught in the public schools and served as foundational members of the new Richland community. There they raised their family. Widowed in 1965, Emily continued to raise the family in Richland and did not remarry. For many years she and her home in Richland was a refuge for ailing parents and siblings, as well as for her children and several surrogate children. Emily will be remembered and deeply missed in Richland as well as in Custer and the Black Hills. She returned to the Black Hills after her retirement, and completed the restoration and expansion of an 1880's-era cabin on the family property near Rochford. She lived there and in Spearfish before settling in Custer.

So many are the people she blessed and whose company blessed her in return; to name even a great many would be to leave out many more. She is survived by her children Judy (Ben Belcher), and sons Bryan (Wanda) and Alan (Ranann), by brother Gene Barker, by sisters Sharon Frohme, Jessie Nelson, Beverly Howey and Barbara Griffin, by eight grandchildren and twelve great-grandchildren, and by her extended family of Belchers, Potratzes, Barkers, Howeys, Backens, Harveys, Frohmes, Nelsons, Sissons, Masons, Griffins, and Olmsteads. She was preceded in death by her husband Verne, her sisters Peggy and Patsy, and by her grandson Joseph.

Emily was a great soul in a fragile body. In her ministries to family, friends, the elderly and her community she expressed God's love with humility and grace. She will be best remembered for the spontaneous, sincere, personal and selfless love that elevated and enlivened each person who knew her, a love which remains with us even as we mourn the passing of her body. She will be remembered also for her beautiful quilting, for her creative and artistic cards, along with the personal messages, for her study of the Bible, for her deep prayer life, and for the long conversations in the living room of her house.

Following her wishes, Emily's body was cremated. The remains will be interred at Bell Park Cemetery near Rochford. Services will be held in Custer at the Custer Lutheran Fellowship on Thursday, September 10, 2:00 PM. Please no flowers (although cards with personal stories and anecdotes will be gratefully received and collected). Remembrances should be made in Emily's name to the Custer Lutheran Fellowship.