Bessie Katharine Bruno

OBITUARY FOR BESSIE “BETTY” KATHARINE (KROTKY) BRUNO

Bessie “Betty” Katharine (Krotky) Bruno, 98, passed away on March 19, 2025, at the BrightStar Senior Living/Memory Care Center in Mason, Ohio where she had been a resident since May 2021. For over 85 years, Betty lived on her family’s homestead in Willow Grove near Neffs in Belmont County, Ohio, most recently living with her son David Joseph Bruno, Jr., and daughter-in-law Margaret Karen Conditt in Liberty Township, Butler County, Ohio.

Betty was born as Bessie K. Krotky on May 3, 1926, to parents Anna (Prosek) Krotky and Emmett Emerson Krotky at the family farm home of her grandparents Wenzel “James” Krotky and Katharina “Katharine” (Kriz) Krotky on Old Farm Road, St. Clairsville, Belmont County, Ohio. Betty’s parents chose her given name, Bessie Katharine, after her grandmothers Bessie Prosek and Katharine Krotky. From the very beginning, however, her nickname “Betty” would prevail, which she used as her legal name even getting her driver’s license as Betty Krotky. Later in life when applying for a U.S. passport, Betty realized that having a nickname on some legal documents and her given name on others required an official explanation. As noted on affidavits of persons who had known her for at least 50 years, her dear Auntie Bessie (Prosek) Pcionek (Betty’s mother’s sister) apparently was responsible for her nickname.

Born into families of Czechia heritage, Betty’s first language was Czech. She often recounted the story, that at age 4 or 5, she was talking in Czech with her English-speaking neighbor playmate in Neffs, Ohio, and her mother Anna had to translate their play talk. Being bilingual, Betty maintained her native language throughout her life, with her children remembering parents and grandparents often slipping into Czech, especially around the dinner table. Betty encouraged her two sons to learn the Czech language, but pronunciation proved tricky. A few Czech words and phrases often heard around the house might have been:

JSEM HLOUPY KOHOUT

I am a dumb rooster (the rooster got a bad rap)

JEDNA, DVA, TRI, CTYRI, PET

One, two, three, four, five (Czech counting)

PRSI, PRSI

Raining, raining (Auntie Bessie’s favorite phrase}

KOLAC

Sweet raised-dough pie with fruit and cheese fillings

HOSKA

Sweet raised-dough bread with almonds and raisins

KYSANE ZELI A KNEDLÍKY

Sauerkraut and dumplings (favorite Czech food)

Betty graduated from Bellaire High School, class of 1943, completing business and secretarial coursework with perfect attendance. She began her education literally “old school,” attending a one-room schoolhouse of mixed early grades in Willow Grove. She walked 3/4 mile to and from school often accompanied by her teacher who lived nearby on the same country lane. Betty had life-long desire for knowledge encouraged by these early experiences. As a parent (before the age of computers and the internet), she encouraged her sons to excel in their learning as well. Her home owned a 24-volume set of the encyclopedia Britannica (1964 edition and still in use today), providing reference for many school research projects.

Betty lived a long and full life as recounted in her memoir “Memories – The Story of My Life” written circa 2003. That life was filled with blessed happiness, involving family gatherings, marriages, raising children, doting over grandchildren and great grandchildren, and traveling, but was also filled with tragedy. Most significant was the untimely death of her father. She was only 13 when she lost her beloved father Emmett Krotky and her Uncle Joseph Prosek, Sr., as well as other community members when on March 16, 1940 at the Hanna Coal Company’s Willow Grove Mine No. 10 near St. Clairsville, Ohio, they were lost in a horrific underground explosion.

In her memoir, Betty describes her courtship and marriage to Dave as a time with “magical bonding working.” She recounts that her mother’s Prosek family tradition was to have Sunday dinners at her grandparent’s house in Midway, Ohio. After her father and uncle were killed, the tradition changed, with Sunday dinners hosted at rotating venues. After getting her driver’s license at age 15, Betty’s duty was to drive her mother’s 1939 Plymouth sedan to pick up her grandfather Prosek for Sunday dinners. It was on those trips that she would often spot Dave walking along the old Stonehouse Road in Midway en route to his grandmother’s house. For her 16th birthday party (May 3, 1942), Betty made sure Dave was invited through a cousin attending the same high school in St. Clairsville. In Betty’s words, “the whole idea of the party was trying to figure a way to get more acquainted with Dave by inviting him to the party.” Betty got her first kiss from Dave at her party. Objective achieved.

Dave had already graduated from high school and moved to Cleveland for employment and the two would not meet again over the next year. Then in May 1943, weeks before graduating from Bellaire High School, Betty had a surprise meeting with Dave at the Wheeling Island West Virginia roller rink. Neither of them having a date, they skated the evening together. As Dave was preparing to leave for the Marine Corps, he asked Betty for a follow-up date the next weekend. However, as Betty recounted “of course I was all excited and was all dressed up and waiting that next Saturday for him to show up, which he never did.” Apparently, Dave later confessed that he made three dates for that same night, and didn’t end up going on any of them. He later sent Betty a graduation card, then many endearing love letters from the Pacific war zone. Betty responded with like-kind letters and care packages, saying “I thought of him as my boyfriend.” After only those brief encounters, that magical bonding was working indeed!

Surviving two and a half years at war, Dave returned home safely to St. Clairsville prompting yet another surprise. After high school, Betty worked as an office assistant at Bethel insurance agency in downtown St. Clairsville. “On November 23, 1945, . . . who comes strolling into the office but the good looking Marine all dressed in uniform . . . yes my Dave. Talk about the heart skipping beats, he hugged and kissed me and that was the beginning of a love affair.”

After much effort, Dave got a job as a machinist at the reopened Hanna Mine No. 10 in Willow Grove, September 1946, “a dream come true.” After about 6 months, a wedding date was set for Valentine’s Day weekend, February 15, 1947, at the St. Stanislaus Catholic Church in Maynard, Ohio, Dave’s family’s church. Being of Protestant faith, both Betty and her sister Emily took Catholic instruction classes to become baptized into the Catholic Church. After a beautiful wedding, a reception was held at the bride’s house in Willow Grove.

Betty recounted “I always dreamed of a beautiful white gown and veil and a church wedding.” With a life savings of $130, she closed her bank account and bought her dream wedding dress as well as all the whisky for the reception. After a home-prepared chicken dinner with trimmings, the dancing began with accordion music lasting all night. The bride and groom spent the first night of their honeymoon at the historic McClure Hotel in downtown Wheeling, West Virginia “in room #5 for $4.49 per night.” Their honeymoon trip continued down the Skyline Drive, Virginia, and into the Shenandoah Valley.

Betty and Dave settled into the Willow Grove family homestead on Jungle Inn Road to share with Betty’s mother Anna Krotky. Dave later worked at a machine shop in Georgetown, Ohio, for Consolidation Coal Company for the remainder of his career until retiring in November 1984. Betty and Dave remained in Willow Grove their entire married lives. After Dave’s death in March 2009, Betty continued to live independently through about 2015, totaling almost 85 years, before relocating to Cincinnati.

Betty and Dave attended the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Neffs, Ohio, during their early years of marriage. As their oldest son became of school age, they chose for him to attend the newly built Neffs Elementary public school. It was then that Betty returned to her family’s home church, Coalbrook Presbyterian in Neffs, renewing her Protestant membership. In her last years, Betty attended the St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church, in Liberty Township, Butler County, Ohio with her family.

With a life spanning the 20th and 21st centuries, Betty encountered other personal and world events that impacted her life including the prohibition era, years of the great economic depression, WWII and its sacrifices involving many family members as well as her sweetheart and future husband Dave Joseph Bruno, Sr. (Dave), who served as a U.S. Marine in the Pacific theater. In her memoir, Betty writes in detail the cherished memories of her life made possible through the loving support of home and Church families and her unfailing Christian faith.

Betty demonstrated her character with many distinguishing qualities. She was   

-Faithful and loving to God and Church, family, and circle of friends and neighbors;   

-Generous and entertaining in both time and resources;   

-Fun loving enjoying games like Scrabble, Dominoes and Canasta; 

-Hard working always busy and achieving;       

-Adventurous planning events and travel, taking her grandchildren on hikes in the nearby hills and always seeking new experiences.

Betty also had many interests and talents throughout her life. She was a  

-Talented seamstress and costume designer skilled in sewing and alterations, while also creating unique Halloween costumes (Flintstone family in burlap garb; Statue of Liberty with lighted torch; and NASA astronaut with life-support system);

-Recreational bowler participating in local Czechoslovak Society of America league play and its national tournaments in Chicago, Illinois. She and Dave would also enjoy this hobby together and had their names engraved on their bowling balls. Betty’s was a beautiful blue and Dave’s was simple black;    

-Fisherman’s companion enjoying the scenic Canadian lakes in French-speaking Quebec, Canada, along with her fishing enthusiast husband Dave and family over a span of about 30 years even taking her grandchildren on cherished annual fishing trips;    

-Farmer’s hand keeping up the family 3-acre farm on Jungle Inn Road in Willow Grove, by tending animals, making hay, and keeping a garden, which included a grape arbor;      

-Expert gardener tending to and canning crops including vegetables, fruits and berries, once picking an apple crop for processing into cider at a local press;     

-Talented cook preparing delicious ethnic foods like cabbage rolls, pork roast with caraway seed, paprika chicken, sausage-egg-cheese  biscuit (to rival that yellow arches place!) and her grandchildren’s favorite, “Grandma’s Soup” which is a simple beef noodle soup with carrots;    

-Creative pastry chef baking scrumptious treats such as cream pies, kolac, hoska, pineapple upside-down cake, nut rolls, cream horns, and  a variety of cookies (chocolate chip, powdered wedding cakes, poppy seed and lemon muffins, and cinnamon rolls);    

-Family historian documenting our family lines (Bruno, Kadlecek/Sklenicka, Krotky, and Prosek) and life’s events and travel memories through scrapbooking albums;      

-Domestic and world explorer traveling yearly on 2-week family vacations during the 1960s, including to the Midwest (Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky); New England (Franconia Notch, New Hampshire; Boston and Cape Cod, Massachusetts); East Coast (Kitty Hawk  and Cape Hatteras, North Carolina); Florida (Silver Springs State Park; Everglades National Park; Florida Keys causeway to Key West; Cape  Canaveral/Kennedy); and California and states cross country thereto (La Brea Tar Pits, Los Angeles; Redwood and Sequoia National Parks and Mount Palomar, California; Grand Canyon and Petrified Forest National Parks, Arizona). Then later in life traveling to Quebec, Canada, on fishing trips with Dave, sons/wives, and grandchildren; to Disneyworld with grandchildren; to Seattle, Washington, visiting grandchildren during school breaks; travelling with her great-granddaughter on many vacations and attending many family reunions. Throughout her travels, she visited many State and U.S. National Parks; Canada; Central Europe (Czech Republic and Slovakia); Australia and New Zealand; and Alaska by cruise ship and rail.

Betty K. Bruno’s life encompassed love, joy, tragedy, hardship, family, friends, magic, fulfillment, and many glorious memories. She will be loved “to the moon and back”. She will be missed dearly.

Betty was preceded in death by parents Anna (Prosek) Krotky (August 28, 1904 - April 5, 1984) and Emmett Emerson Krotky (September 25, 1902 - March 16, 1940); husband David J. Bruno, Sr., (March 9, 1924 - March 27, 2009); sister Emily A. (Krotky) Klotz (1928 - 2022) and brother-in-law J. Walter Klotz (1927 - 2000); sister-in-law Frances L. “Toots” (Bruno) Moore (1930 - 2011) and brother-in-law Alexander Moore, Jr., (1923 - 1978); nieces Lucinda A. (Moore; Pubal; Matuska) Moore (1958 - 2020) and Rebecca (Moore; Deaton; Willman) Moore-Willman (1961 - 2020).

Betty’s immediate surviving family includes sons David J. Bruno, Jr. (Margaret K. Conditt) and Gary A. Bruno (Julie E.); grandchildren Holly N. Bruno (Andy A.), Joshua N. Bruno (Carter R.), Christopher A. Bruno, and Brendan K. Bruno (Eden D.); great grandchildren Mary J. Sparkman, Gunner T. Bruno, Madelyn R. Bruno, Ethan D. Holt, Jasper K. Bruno, Claire J. Bruno and Auna N. Ehritz; nieces Sheryl A. (Klotz; Hanson) Nechvatal (John M.), Donna L. (Klotz) Soloski (Brian C., dec.), Jodie M. (Klotz; Starre) Starre (Dewey Saddler); nephew Dennis L. Moore (Nancy D.).

Family and friends will be received at a visitation and prayer service on Tuesday April 8, 2025, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Mueller Funeral Home, 6791 Tylersville Road, Mason.

A second visitation and prayer service will be held in St. Clairsville, Ohio, on Wednesday April 9, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Beck-Altmeyer Funeral Home, 204 West Main Street.

The graveside service will be conducted on Thursday April 10, beginning at 10:30 a.m. at the Beck-Altmeyer Funeral Home and we will process to Union Cemetery, 211 Maple Avenue (State Route 9), St. Clairsville for interment. A gathering to celebrate Betty’s life will follow at Mehlman’s Cafeteria, 51800 National Road East, St. Clairsville.

Funeral arrangements are being provided by Mueller Funeral Home, 6791 Tylersville Road, Mason, Ohio, and Beck-Altmeyer Funeral Home, 204 West Main Street, St. Clairsville, Ohio.

Condolences may be shared online at www.muellerfunerals.com, Mueller serving Liberty Township, Butler County, Ohio, or www.carechapel.com/locations/st-clairsville-chapel, Beck-Altmeyer serving St., Clairsville, Belmont County, Ohio.

Memorial donations may be made in the name of Bessie “Betty” Katharine (Krotky) Bruno to Coalbrook Presbyterian Church, P.O. Box 367, Neffs, Ohio 43940; Bellaire High School, Alumni Association, P.O. Box 307, Bellaire, Ohio 43906; St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church, 5720 Hamilton Mason Road, Liberty Township, Ohio 45011; or a local animal rescue organization.