Elisabeth Diaz-Herrera | Dec. 19, 1934 – Sept. 7, 2009

Posted by Tristan Waddington on Sep 15, 2009 in Blog, Off Topic | 3 comments

This is my grandmother Bettina. She passed away last week on labor day morning.

Technically she was my step-grandmother, as my mom’s birth mother Ellen passed away when my mom was a teenager 7. So I’ve always known Bettina to be my grandmother.

Bettina was a fantastic lady, who, I’m sorry to say, I was just beginning to get to know. She was always cheerful, even through the last few years of her life, when she was very sick.

Whenever I spoke to her on the phone she would happily answer “Hola, hola!”, which always made me smile. She always had something wonderful to say about how I was doing, even when I was feeling at the end of my rope.

I remember taking walks with her and my grandfather in the woods behind her house when I was little. There was this fantastic stone wall way out behind their house that opened up into a field. They had a huge basement, with all sorts of exciting things to discover. I used to ride around on this long wooden car, that was sort of like a bench with wheels and handlebars. I’d ride around their basement and peruse my uncle’s old toys – everything from a box of old electric trains, to long abandoned remote-controlled airplanes.

Bettina understood the importance of computers and new technology, even if it advanced faster than she could. She gave my family our first computer, an old 486 running MS-DOS, which sat idle for months with no monitor. Finally, Christmas morning, I woke up to find a big CRT under the tree, courtesy of my uncle Mike. That computer was undoubtedly one of the most important gifts I ever received.

I regret that I wasn’t able to see Bettina one more time before she left us. While she had been sick for quite some time, her passing seemed sudden and unexpected. I had lots of things I hoped to tell her, like how I had discovered Mate with my friend Josh, a beverage she drank almost every morning. I also hoped she would live to see me graduate from college, something that would have been very difficult for me financially, if it weren’t for her and my grandfather’s support.

I’ve included a copy of the obituary below, written collectively by my family, which will go out to the local paper sometime this week.

Thank you so much for all your love and care Bettina. We’ll miss you.

Bettina was born December 19, 1934 in Buenos Aries, Argentina to Ricardo and Elizabeth Diaz Herrera. Bettina led a varied and unusual life as a young woman in Buenos Aries and on the family ranch in Argentina. It was here, on the family ranch, that she developed a deep appreciation and love of animals and nature that continued throughout her life. She became an adept equestrian and learned to pilot bush planes as a young woman on the Pampas of Argentina.

Bettina came to the United States in 1966 were she pursued graduate studies in macroeconomics and business at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and at Stanford University. She worked with women and minorities in small business development and consulting.

Bettina was very active in and served as President of the League of Women Voters of Dane County. After growing up under repressive regimes in Argentina she truly valued the democratic process and freedom of speech she experienced here. She became a citizen of the United States in 1983.

Elisabeth is survived by her husband: Don Kanel, her children: Mike Kanel and Elizabeth Kanel, her grandchildren: Avery and William Kanel and Tristan and Galen Waddington. Many friends and family in Argentina and the United States also survive Elisabeth. Her own reflections on her life included the following; “ For myself, living in this world has been very interesting, very demanding and very rewarding. I think that I would do it all again (given the advantage of this practice run!)”. We will all miss her.