Elizabeth Druehl Redman

Elizabeth (Betsy) Redman was born to William and Charlotte Grubb on August 30, 1926, in Miami, Florida, during a hurricane. Her family lived in Florida for three years until her parents divorced. After that, her mother moved the two of them to Salt Lake City, Utah, to live with Betsy’s maternal grandparents. When Betsy was nine, her mother married Louis Druehl. He adopted her, as her birth father had passed away several years earlier. This little family then moved to the San Francisco bay area. When Betsy was 10, she welcomed a little brother, Louis Dix Druehl, Jr. Sadly at the age of 16, Betsy’s mother passed away from food poisoning.

Betsy was sent to live with her adopted grandmother and then her adopted aunt, who both gladly accepted her into their families. After finishing high school, Betsy went to work for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1944 to 1945 as a copy girl and junior reporter. It was a very exciting year! WWII ended and she got to know Joe Rosenthal, the photographer who took the famous picture of the flag-raising on Iwo Jima. After her time at the Chronicle, she went to Mills College (an all-women’s college) in Oakland, CA, where she majored in education. She then became an elementary school teacher in San Mateo, CA.

After her first year teaching, Betsy married the “boy next door,” James (Jim) Redman on August 23, 1950. While he finished his engineering degree at San Jose State College, she continued teaching third grade. After Jim graduated, they moved to Castro Valley, CA, for his first engineering job. While there, they had their first child in 1952, a daughter Margie. Jim was offered a job in San Diego, so this family of three moved there. Two more children were added to the family, first Nancy in 1956 and then Marty in 1959. Betsy was very involved in all three of their children’s lives. She helped with summer programs at their schools, as assistant leader to Margie’s Girl Scout troop, Nancy’s Camp Fire Girls group, and she even helped with Marty’s Boy Scout troop. She also loved sewing and made dresses for the girls.

Jim and Betsy loved to travel, taking trips to Australia, New Zealand, Alaska, Europe, all over the U.S. and Canada, and more. Most of the time they traveled with their best friends and traveling buddies, the Denistons.

After attending a few churches in San Diego, the Lord led Jim and Betsy to the lovely North Park Community Church (NPCC), where they made many wonderful friends! Betsy enjoyed writing poetry, focusing many of her poems on praising her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. One of her favorite poems is one she wrote for, and dedicated to, Louie Gransee for his retirement from pastor at NPCC, titled, “The Face of my Pastor.”

Betsy was sweet, kind, patient, thoughtful, and loving to all unconditionally. She is survived by her children Nancy and Marty, her children-in-law Ron, Jim, and Carol, her grandchildren Evan, Oryan, Megan, Molly, Nathan, Scotty, and Christina, and her brother Louis Druehl. Betsy so wanted to be a great-grandmother, and thankfully, she knew that her great-granddaughter will be born this coming August. Betsy continued to love Jesus Christ and share Him with everyone.