Elizabeth Mary Muehlenkamp Royce

Published 8:12 am Thursday, August 23, 2018

October 2, 1920–August 20, 2018

Elizabeth (“Betty”) Royce died peacefully in her Bend home, early morning on August 20, 2018, at the age of 97. Funeral Mass to be held at St. Francis of Assisi Historic Church in downtown Bend on Monday, August 27, 2018 at 10:00 a.m.

Betty was born in Newport, KY to William and Susanna Muehlenkamp, the sixth of seven children. She was a Kentucky girl, born and raised across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. She was a champion swimmer in school and the family loved playing lots of cards. She played a mean game of bridge all her life!

Betty received her BA from Our Lady of Cincinnati College (now part of Xavier University) and her MSW from Catholic University in Washington, D.C. While there, she met and fell in love with a handsome army officer, Bill Royce, at a college dance. When he returned from Germany at the end of WWII, they married and had 4 children. Bill died in 2012 after 66 years of marriage. Betty worked as a social worker in various capacities over the years.

Betty and Bill traveled around the world and lived in Washington, D.C., Portland, New Dehli, India, San Francisco Bay Area, Tokyo, Japan, Dhaka, Bangladesh and finally retired 20 years ago to beautiful Bend. Betty has met the Dalai Lama and worked with Mother Teresa!

Betty was always the “Hostess with the Mostest” and loved to socialize and include everyone in whatever fun is going on. Her children call her the “Queen Mum”!

Betty is survived by her four children, Elizabeth (Beth) Royce Whitney of Bend, William Stephen (Steve) Royce of Tigard, Thomas Reilly Christopher Royce of Raleigh, NC, Susanna Royce Ross of Bend; her sons- and daughters-in-law and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Charitable gifts may be made in her memory to the Alzheimer’s Association of Oregon, 777 NW Wall St, Bend, OR 97703. Please visit the online registry for the family at www.niswonger-reynolds.com.