Betty Hubenak

A Mass of Christian Burial is set for 2 p.m., Wednesday, July 5, 2017, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, with Monsignor John Malinowski officiating at the service. Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m., Tuesday, July 4, with a Rosary at 7 p.m., all at Strickland Funeral Home in Caldwell.

Betty Jean (Orsak) Hubenak, 82, born on October 21, 1934 was welcomed into our Lord’s heavenly home on July 2, 2017. Betty lived in Caldwell until her marriage to Elton Hubenak in 1952 and became a lifelong resident of Snook, Texas in Burleson County. Betty was born to Charlie Orsak and Girlean Theuber Orsak Hales in the San Antonio Prairie Community. She had one brother, Larry Simon Orsak, deceased.

Betty, known to generations of school children as “Mrs. Santa Claus,” has given freely of her time to the pleasure of many so that everyone could enjoy the holiday season of Christmas. She missed only one Christmas holiday due to a heart attack in 1991. She said she has been blessed to have been able to see the expressions on all her grandchildren’s faces as well as hundreds of others when she arrived with Santa Claus at their classroom doors. While raising three daughters, Betty decided to expand her education and acquired a cosmetology license which enabled her to open and run a beauty shop at her home for over 25 years.

Along with being a young business woman, Betty was active in various clubs and served on committees and held office such as PTA secretary and president; Snook Young Homemakers club president; chairperson of the Burleson County Cancer Society of Snook and surrounding areas for over 10 years, and Mistress of Ceremonies for the “Little Miss” Contest and Co-Chair of the Queen’s Contest of the Burleson County Fair for a number of years. Betty also worked with the presentation of the Snook Womanless Wedding (of which Elton, her husband, was a maid of honor), PTA Variety Shows, designed and helped construct PTA, FFA, and Snook Lions Club floats which were entered in the Burleson County Fair Parade, Bryan Christmas Parade, Giddings Parade, SnookFest Parade, and others for over thirty years. Betty also served as a “room mother” throughout all three daughters’ elementary years, and chaperoned many school trips, homemaking activities, girls basketball and cheerleading outings. She also chaperoned many SPJST Youth Club activities such as youth camp and touring with the “Beseda” dancers of which her daughters danced. Betty was also an original member of the Burleson County ladies softball team, hanging up her glove in 1987, when her last granddaughter was born. She also served as a chairperson of the Texas 1986 Sesquicentennial Celebration and the Snook Festival and Parade. The Snook committee raised monies to furnish the dining room at the Kraitcher Room in Caldwell with historical furniture. This dining room was then named “The Snook Room.” In 1972, Betty received the Honorary Chapter Farmer Award from the Snook FFA Chapter. In 1974, she was named Homemaker of the Year by the Burleson-Lee County Soil Conservation District. Betty worked out of her home in a part-time capacity and later became a full time employee for the City of Snook. During this time, Betty received her certificate from the Texas Municipal Clerks Certification Program as city secretary for the City of Snook for 27 years. She was selected Burleson County Outstanding Senior Citizen in 2006, Snook EEA Club Member of the Year in 2005 and 2006, and served as council member of the Burleson County Extension Educational Association Council. Betty was a member of St. Mary’s Altar Society and St. Mary’s Women’s Club. She was active at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Caldwell, Texas where she taught Sunday School and Vacation Bible School. She helped organize and oversee the gift shop at St. Mary’s Catholic Church. In 2007, the National Fraternal Congress of America recognized Betty as a Fraternal MVP. She served as treasurer of the Catholic Family Fraternal of Texas (KJZT), our Ladies of Lourdes, Society #27 of Caldwell. She is also a member of SPJST; the Home Demonstration Club (FCE) of Burleson County and the Burleson County Historical Society having served as secretary and enjoyed working with First Friday luncheons. Her hobbies included working with flowers, cooking, dancing, sewing, her feline cats, and traveling with the Snook EEA Club where she organized chartered motor coach trips for many years, with buses full of “travelling companions.” She was an active member of the Snook EEA Club receiving a certificate for 35 years of service in 2017. Betty was a kind and generous woman. Family was the most important aspect of her life. She loved deeply and completely.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Elton, of 63 years; her parents, Charlie Orsak and Girlean Theuber Orsak Hales, and one brother, Larry Simon Orsak, and in-laws, Willie and Olga Hubenak.

Betty is survived by her daughters and sons-in-law, Dianne and Frankie Jaster, Sharon and Charles Wood, and Cynthia and Wayne Nedbalek. Grandchildren, Cyndi Wood-Zwernemann, Brandon Jaster and wife, Deana; Amber Jaster-See and husband, Travis; Creighton Jaster and wife, Christie; Travis Wood and wife, Morgan; Brent Nedbalek and wife, Amanda Marie; and Amanda Jo Nedbalek. Great grandchildren Preston Zwernemann, Wyatt See, Trey Cline, Zoe Zwernemann, Michaela Jaster, Elizabeth See, Abby Cline, Lucas Jaster, Ryan See, Samuel Jaster, Anna Cate Jaster, Greyson Nedbalek, Lawson Nedbalek, and Jacob Wood, as well as her nephew, nieces, cousins, and other relatives and special friends. Pall bearers are her seven grandchildren along with honorary pall bearers Linda and Walter Maass and members of the Snook EEA Club. Memorials may be directed to the St. Mary’s Altar Society of Caldwell, the St. Mary’s Women’s Club of Caldwell, and KJZT.