Elizabeth Jane “Betty” Burmeister
September 20, 1921 – December 27, 2020
When Betty celebrated her 99th birthday, we talked about the bash we’d throw for her 100th. She laughed and said, “I just want to make it through one more Christmas.” She nearly did. Betty died at HCMC from injuries and trauma sustained during CPR after choking on Christmas dinner. Betty was born in Montevideo, MN in 1921, to Leroy and Genevieve Wisner. Her father was an exec for the Milwaukee Road, and Betty loved trains all of her life. Betty and her sister Marge lived near their first cousin, Eleanor Burdick, and the three girls grew into extremely formidable women. Marge was a pilot who knew Amelia Earhart. Dr. Eleanor Burdick was one of the first women to graduate from the U of M medical school in the 1930s. And Betty? Have you seen Mad Men? Betty was an executive who shaped national ad campaigns at Campbell Mithun from the 1950s on. She pioneered a system of talent contract negotiations that remain AFTRA and SAG industry standards to this day. She was in the three-martini-lunch where the legendary Hamm’s Bear was first illustrated on a cocktail napkin. During those days, Betty lived in an apartment across from where Orchestra Hall is today and walked to work on what was then Nicollet Avenue. She was an early “Mary Tyler Moore” gal living in Minneapolis. But she didn’t start her career there. Before CM, Betty worked at the first television station in Sacramento, CA. Betty went there because of her daughter, Sue, who was born in 1945 with Down’s Syndrome. During a time when most special needs people were institutionalized, Betty wasn’t having any of that. She moved to one of the only places in the country that had programs for Down’s Syndrome children. Betty took care of Sue, the light of her life, for almost 70 years, much of that as a single mom. Betty married Albert Burmeister, in 1961. They settled into a house on Lake Harriet and welcomed son Steve. They brought caregivers for Sue into their lives, all of whom became family, including Kathleen Plummer, whose son Jon became Steve and Sue’s big brother; Karen Graham, who became their big sister; and Jane Sinclair Duncan Penman, aka Scottie, the Scottish second matriarch to family and friends alike. Betty retired from CM after 35 years but was still in hot demand. General Mills came calling, and later she went to Sound 80, where her biggest client was Target. Incredibly, Betty worked well into her late 80s negotiating contracts with superstars like Elton John and Beyonce, taking the bus downtown every day from her home on the Lakes. Betty lived at home, feisty and sharp as ever, because of the loving care of her son, Steve. During her last moments, Betty was awaiting reunion with those who preceded her in death, including her parents, Marge, Eleanor, Sue, her beloved Al, Scottie, and the dogs she loved throughout the years. We know there was one helluva party to welcome her, with Al mixing his famous Bloody Marys and grilling New York Strips. Betty is survived by her grieving family, including Steve, Wendy Webb, Jack Webb, Jon (Cindy) Plummer, Kathleen Plummer, Karen Graham, best friend Lyda Jeurink, and a vast multitude of friends, dear neighbors and work comrades. Services will be held in Montevideo in the summer, and a gathering in her honor on what would have been Betty’s 100th birthday will take place in September. (Published in the Star Tribune on January 3, 2021)