Betty Louise Allen

Betty L. Allen

October 15, 1928 - October 26, 2025

Betty L. Allen (Van Ash), 97, of Lee’s Summit, MO passed away on October 26, 2025 in the caring arms of her daughters. Betty was born in Larchwood, IA on October 15, 1928 to Henry and Sophia Van Ash. After working as a schoolteacher she married Joe Allen of Alvord, IA in 1949. She moved from place to place with Joe and her growing family through several locations in the Midwest before settling in Kansas City, MO in 1968. In (or around) 1974, when her youngest child was three years old, she began her long career as the organizer of the Parents Day Out program at Country Club Christian Church. In addition to raising all nine of her own kids, she put her superior organizational and care-giving skills to work making sure that other people’s children were well looked after. She retired from her decades of service at the church in her 70s. In retirement, she enjoyed many rounds of golf and watching her grandchildren and great-grandchildren thrive.

Betty was a fun-loving woman who liked sports cars and shiny things, and was quick to laugh, tendencies she passed on to many of her kids. A life-long Catholic, she was also a generous person who gave her heart and her support to her children and those around her. Her sympathetic, humane, and self-sacrificing nature meant that she would let no one go hungry or unsheltered. Her holiday tables sagged under the weight of all the dishes she managed to prepare for the tens of people she fed. Betty was a great baker, and everyone who feasted on them will miss her cherry pies. She also passed on to her children her love of gardening and flowers. She delighted in discussing whatever was blooming in her back yard, and the birds that came to visit. She was always up for a party, enjoyed sweets and good food, and rarely turned down a tipple when offered.

Betty is survived by her children Jeff, Jari (Dana), Tom, Vicki (Dave) Benyo, Michele, Terry, Jim, Tim (Janice), Lori (Yezid); her grandchildren Lisa (Todd), Scott (Darcy), Drew; Jessica (Chris); Abby (Andrew), Joe (Laney); Jordan (Suhaib), Cooper, Parker; Christina, Nick, Henry; Elijah; her great-grandchildren, Ben, Delaney, and Dean; her sister Beverly (Lyall) Spargo, of Rapid City, SD, (who she got to see just a week before she left us), and her sister-in-law Marilyn (Al) Van Ash, of Larchwood, IA. She is preceded in death by her parents Henry and Sophia (nee Friesen) Van Ash, her husband, Joe Allen, and her siblings, Al Van Ash, Cletus Van Ash, Lenny Griffith, and Gordon Van Ash. A funeral mass will be held at 11:00 am, Friday, October 31, 2025 at St. Peter’s Church, 815 E. Meyer Blvd, Kansas City, MO 64131. We’ll have a celebration of life and the interment of her ashes in Larchwood, IA sometime this spring. Online condolences may be expressed at www.speakschapel.com (Arrangements: Speaks Suburban Chapel 816-373-3600.) Betty cared a lot about children—in lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to 1for3, which runs a kindergarten for Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, https://www.1for3.org/donate and UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency), through which you can support children in Gaza, https://donate.unrwa.org/int/en/general.