Betty Mae Winn

Betty Mae (Brandenburg) Winn was born November 10, 1925, to Charles & Ethel (Racus) Brandenburg in Wenatchee, WA. She joined her older sister Yvonne (Kelso Bergeman), brother, Charles, and later sister, Gwen (Hansen). Betty was the longest living of her siblings. Betty attended Whitman School, H.B. Ellison and Wenatchee High graduating in January 1944. She was in the last graduation for children to not graduate in the springtime graduation. (The "mid-term" class was for children who had late birthdays. Today those children would start school the next year.) The family resided in a house on the corner of Third Street and Pennsylvania and during the Depression they rented out their home and moved the family of 6 to a one- bedroom/one bath home to make ends meet. In September before Betty graduated, she started working at Sears-Roebuck, which was then located on Wenatchee Avenue next to Kress. She started as an employee in Unit Control, then to auditing, and into credit department bookkeeper. This was many years before computers, so everything was done in the old-fashioned way using adding machines and common sense. While working at Sears, she met Minor Lee Winn and they were married in June 1949. They were married for 48 years. In 1951, daughter Christine and 1953 son Michael joined the family. Lee left Sears in 1960 and became a realtor. Together they purchased and repaired and resold homes. Betty had many moving experiences, 4 before marrying Lee, 14 after. She had a knack for decorating and created eye-catching interiors, and occasionally other realtors bought their homes. It was said in the realtor business that if Lee ran out of listings, he'd sell his home. Betty worked for Wenatchee Meat Packing as a bookkeeper for "far too many years to recall!" until she transferred to Blue Ribbon Meats when the owners, the Dossers sold WMP and bought Blue Ribbon. Betty retired in 1988. After Lee's death in 1997, Betty became a volunteer at Central Washington Hospital. She played Pinochle and Hand and Foot with friends until the age of 98. Betty was preceded in death by her husband, Lee, her daughter, Christine Sims, son-in-law, Lloyd Sims and grandson, Joshua Sims. She is survived by her son, Mike, her grandsons, Mike and Jeffrey Sims and many nieces and nephews. Please express your thoughts and memories on the online guestbook at jonesjonesbetts.com. Arrangements by Jones & Jones – Betts Funeral Home.

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Betty Mae Winn

November 10, 1925 - February 13, 2026