Memorial services for Betty J. (nee Hamill) Koelliker, 91, of Chardon, will be 11 a.m. Saturday, June 17, 2017, at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 11519 Wilson Mills Road, Chardon, OH 44024. (Family and friends are asked to please meet at church.)
Mrs. Koelliker passed away Wednesday, May 31, 2017, at Governor’s Village in Mayfield Village.
Born Aug. 12, 1925, in Cleveland, she had been a resident of Geauga County for more than 50 years.
Betty was the daughter of the late J. Walter and Laura Jane (nee Smith) Hamill. The Hamill family moved to Cleveland Heights, where Betty attended schools and graduated from Heights High in 1943. She began her nursing career with the Nurses Cadet Corps in 1943, after which she was accepted by the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, where she earned her degree as a Registered Nurse.
Betty and Joseph Koelliker met on a “blind date” and married in 1947. They resided in Willoughby prior to moving to Munson in 1960, where they purchased 43 acres with a home for $46,000! The Koellikers were the proud parents of three daughters, two sons, five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Betty lived life focusing her time and energy on the things she truly cared most for…family, friends, community and the environment. She devoted many years to volunteer work, ten years for the Red Cross, 22 years at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, as a poll worker for Geauga County for 20 years and served on the Munson Township Zoning Commission from Dec. 17, 1981 to Oct. 12, 1999. Betty was also a very talented artist, working with a variety of mediums as well as carving miniature figures in stone. Her works have been displayed at Penitentiary Glen in Kirtland, Mayfield Regional Library and other locations. Her hobbies included art, knitting, geology, lapidary, genealogy and wildflowers. A wild orchid was recently discovered on the Koelliker homestead. Betty simply stated, “I want to do more art!”
She was the loving mother of Leah J. (Joe) Carleton, Joseph W. (Joan) Koelliker III, Rachel K. (Derek) Vanek, Deborah A. Koelliker and Daniel D. (Susan) Koelliker; cherished grandmother of Sarah (Alex) Ivanov, Lindsay (Jay) Moore, Rebecca Carleton, Katia Koelliker and Lara Koelliker; great-grandmother of Thomas, Hannah, Amelia, Johnny, Adam, Aiden and Violet; sister of Walter (Jeanne) Hamill; and aunt of nieces and nephews.
Betty was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Joseph W. Koelliker, Jr. M.D. Oct. 13, 2015; and her parents.
Family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, June 16, 2017, at The Abbey of Willoughby, 38011 Euclid Ave. (located on the grounds of McMahon-Coyne-Vitantonio Funeral Home), in Willoughby. Burial will be private.
In lieu of flowers, contributions in her name may be made to the Cleveland Natural History Museum, 1 Wade Oval Dr., Cleveland, OH 44106.
To leave condolences for the family or light a memorial candle, visit www.MCVfuneralhomes.com.

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