Following a lengthy illness, our beautiful mother, aunt, grandmother, friend, Grace Elizabeth (Betty) Brand, passed away on August 24 at the age of 93. Born to Frank Ivan and Elsie M Bauer on January 7, 1922, in Berkeley, California, she was the eldest of their three children (Frank had one son, Harry, from a previous marriage). The family lived in the Bay area, watched the building of the Carquinos Bridge, lived in a small house almost under that bridge, then bought a small stucco house in Richmond. But when the Depression hit, they were forced to sell their home and move to the 600 acre ranch of their Aunt Doris and Uncle Harry in Yuba County, about 20 miles northeast of Marysville. Living in a small shack without electricity and running water did not bother Betty and her siblings, as they were now close to their cousins, Pat and Kay, and could play together in the irrigation ditch during hot summer days and attend the two-room, eight-grade school together. Uncle Harry and Aunt Doris were very musical, and sparked a musical talent in Betty that would enrich her entire life.

In 1936 the family moved to Marysville, where jobs had become available to Betty's parents. Here they were able to obtain a piano and later a violin, from which Betty learned to elicit pleasing sounds. As second violinist in the Marysville High School Orchestra, she fell for the tall, dark, handsome first violinist, Dorrell Wright, whom she married on July 12, 1941, after graduating from High School. Only one month before this her father died suddenly from a heart attack. Her grief was intense, and bouts of depression began to plague her. She and her mother, and later her siblings, all became Christians after attending some evangelistic meetings just before her dad's passing.

To Dorrell's and Betty's brief union were born two children, Margaret Elizabeth and Frederick James. The young couple was unable to resolve their many conflicts, and they divorced in 1946. In 1948 she met and married a mechanic and car dealer, Layman Heinselman, who owned his own business in San Andreas, California. Betty's third child, Barbara Ann, was born the following year. Alas, this marriage was also ill-fated and ended in 1951. Betty and her three children moved in with her mother, who had started building a house on a country road near San Andreas. She ran out of funds before it was finished, but it was livable. Later the five of them moved to Angwin, California, for a few years, then north to Weaverville, 50 miles west of Redding. Here Betty taught a handful of students at Trinity Christian School, a one-room, eight-grade school.

Her next adventure took the family across the United States to Oneida, Kentucky, to join her brother in working at Oneida Mountain Hospital in the heart of Appalachia. Here she worked as a receptionist for two doctors for several years before returning to the West Coast, after some brief stays in Georgia and Tennessee. Her endurance was always limited, and the high humidity in the east took its toll on her. It wouldn't be until age 77 that she would discover she was born with a rather large atrial septal defect (hole between the upper chambers of her heart). Dr. Hughes successfully repaired this problem at St. Helena Hospital in 1999.

In the meantime, she met and married Yale Olver Brand in 1972. They lived in Springville, California, for a number of years, where she taught piano students. She even wrote her own piano instruction courses. Yale worked in the school bus maintenance department of Porterville. After retirement they bought a home in Weaverville, and later moved to Silverado Orchards Retirement home in St. Helena. After her heart surgery, Betty had renewed energy and vigor, and finally resolved her bouts of depression with the proper treatment. She was active in her church (playing the piano, teaching classes, etc) and active at the retirement home for 16 years. Now that she no longer had to worry about shopping for groceries or cooking, she could spend her time with her creative pursuits that she so loved: writing music, poems, even privately publishing her own quarterly paper, Lamplight, for 15 of those years (making use of her own PC, printer, and copy machine). She made a special point of making the newcomers feel welcome at the retirement home and developed many sweet friendships.

When a major stroke swiftly changed her life on July 24, 2013, she was moved to Fallbrook to be close to her youngest daughter. This was followed by two years of decline.

Betty is survived by her two daughters, Margaret Elizabeth Weir, Barbara Ann Jarnes, two step-daughters who also happened to be named Margaret Elizabeth [Blackwell] and Barbara Ann [Bodley], nine grandchildren, and eleven great-grandchildren. Her husband, Yale, and son, Fred, preceded her in death.

The family will hold a private Celebration of Betty's Life.