Elizabeth “Betty” Scott Brenkert of Colorado Springs, Colorado, passed away peacefully on March 22, 2017, at the age of 93.  She is best remembered for her journalistic excellence and service to the communities in which she lived.  Betty was born in Detroit, Michigan, on July 8, 1923, to Angus and Lillian Scott.  She attended Sophie Newcomb College in New Orleans and earned her Journalism degree from the University of Michigan in 1944, where she was an active member of the Delta Gamma sorority.

She began her journalism career at Sunset magazine in the 1950s and moved to Oxford, Mississippi with her family in 1964. While working as an editor, staff writer, and photographer at the Oxford EAGLE, Betty earned numerous awards from the Mississippi Press Women’s Association and Associated Press.  While with the Oxford Housing Authority, she became Oxford’s first woman chairman of a city board.  She served over 20 years with the local chapters of the American Red Cross and United Way and was appointed to the Board of Directors for both organizations.  Her greatest accomplishment was as a wife and mother, raising five children and being involved in every aspect of their formative years, all while maintaining a loving, supportive home.

Betty is preceded in death by her husband of 66 years, Karl Brenkert Jr., two sisters, Leyla Scott Ballman and Clara May Scott, and a grandson. She is survived by her five children, Gail Brenkert of Spokane, Wash., Karl “Buzz” Brenkert III of Cincinnati, Dr. Pamela Reband of Sierra Vista, Ariz., Scott Brenkert of Phoenix, and Lt. Col. (USAF, ret.) Eric Brenkert of Monument, Colo.; eight grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at Woodlawn Cemetery in Detroit in May. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to The Elizabeth and Karl Brenkert Scholarship Endowment Fund in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Mississippi, 406 University Avenue, Oxford, MS 38655    https://www.umfoundation.com/makeagift/