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Betty Louise Steele
November 20, 1920 - February 24, 2009
of Iowa City and formerly Oskaloosa and Des Moines
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| Visitation: Will begin at 11:00 A.M., Friday morning, February 27, 2009 at Garland-VanArkel-Langkamp Funeral Chapel; the family will be present at the funeral chapel from 6 to 8 to greet visitors on Friday evening. |
| Funeral Service: 10:30 a.m., Saturday morning, February 28, 2009 at Garland - Van Arkel - Langkamp Funeral Chapel with Reverend Michael Omundson of the First Christian church officiating. |
Interment: Forest Cemetery in Oskaloosa
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Betty passed away Tuesday morning at her home in Iowa City at the age of 88 years, 3 months and 4 days.
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Betty Louise Steele, the daughter of Otto O. and Freda Strohman Utterback, was born November 20, 1920 in Sigourney, Iowa. She graduated from Delta High School in 1938 and was employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Sigourney and at the regional offices in Des Moines and Milwaukee, WI. On January 17, 1942, she and David L. Steele were married in Niagara Fall, NY. They are the parents of one son, David Leroy Steele of Barrington, IL. Returning to Iowa in the fall of 1942 they lived briefly in Fremont and in 1946 purchased a grocery store in What Cheer. In 1950 they moved to Centerville and then Creston; they moved to Des Moines in 1952.
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Betty joined Northwest Des Moines National Bank, a Brenton Bank affiliate, in 1953. She became an officer in 1959 and vice president and manager of the real estate loan and trust department in 1966. She was elected Vice President and Secretary of Brenton Bank, Inc., the holding company owning the various Brenton Banks in Iowa and in 1976 was elected to its board of directors, retiring in 1986. Betty was appointed to the State Banking Board by Governor Robert Ray and served on Governor Branstad’s Committee for Volunteerism. Active in the American Banker’s Association, she was a member of its Governments Relations Council and served on its executive committee. She also served on various committees of the Iowa Bankers Association. In addition, she was a contact banker with both the U.S. Congress and the Iowa Legislature.
Mrs. Steele was International President and on the board of directors of the National Association of Bank Women, NABW, (now Financial Women International) and held various offices and committee chair assignments, was an ex-officio trustee of its educational foundation and chairman of the Iowa Group. The association members were women bank officers in the US and several foreign countries. The annual Betty L. Steele scholarship award was established by the Iowa State NABW groups for a member to further management skills, a program developed during her term of office.
Betty was an advocate for the advancement of women. During her term as president she attended a conference at the White House sponsored by the SBA to make recommendations for financing women entrepreneurs and attended the Rose Garden presentation by President Ford of the Report of the National Commission of the Observance of International Women’s Year 1976. She testified before Senator Proxmires Committee in regard to the affirmative action program and was a delegate to the Corporate Governance for the Achievement of Women’s Conference sponsored by the Labor Department. Betty was one of 100 executive women invited to a government briefing in Washington by the Republican National Committee. During the Carter administration she was interviewed for the post of U.S. Treasurer.
Mrs. Steele was the author of several articles for trade magazines. She was a graduate of both the National and Graduate School of Bank Investments at the University of Illinois and was listed in Who’s Who In America and Who’s Who In Des Moines. She received the Des Moines Chamber of Commerce National Leadership Award in 1976 and was selected for the YMCA Women of Achievement Calendar in 1984. Other activities include a member of the Dean’s Committee and Employer Advisory Committee of Iowa State University Home Ec. College, the Des Moines Chamber of Commerce, and the Iowa Women’s Political Caucus. She was a member of the board of directors and assistant treasurer of the American Red Cross Central Iowa Chapter, a member of PEO, FWI and the First Christian Church in Oskaloosa.
Betty enjoyed music, reading, interior decorating and golf.
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She is survived by her son David Leroy Steele of Barrington, IL; a sister and brother-in-law, Ruth and Glen Stanley of Oskaloosa; brothers and sisters-in-law: Leland Utterback of Grinnell, IA; Loren Utterback of Sigourney, IA; Jim and Midge Utterback of Wapello, IA; K and Jeanie Utterback of Winterset, IA and Richard and Donna Utterback of Graves, TX.
Besides her parents, Betty was preceded in death by her husband David and her brothers: Bruce, Hal, Jack and Larry Utterback.
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Memorials may be made to Iowa City Hospice.(1025 Wade Street, Iowa City, IA 52240)
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