By Deborah Larsen
Betty Jean Case
Betty Jean Case was born in Rochester, Michigan, on April 4, 1922, the daughter of Mason and Leah Howell Case. She graduated from Rochester High School with the class of 1939, then attended Cleary College in Ypsilanti. She was employed in the Detroit Edison company offices in Pontiac.
Betty joined the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) in April 1943 and was trained at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. She served as a telephone operator while awaiting overseas orders. When those orders came, Betty was stationed at a Pacific Theater base near Buna, New Guinea, where preparations were underway for the invasion of the Philippines. Betty wrote in a letter to the Rochester Clarion that she was housed in nice barracks on the beach, but the rations were “mostly dehydrated foods and not very appetizing, bully-beef and spam being the main dishes.”
Betty told the Clarion readers back home in Rochester that she enjoyed her work alongside the Signal Corps, and felt that she was making a valuable contribution to the war effort. “Of course the work is very secret, and every bit of material sent or received must be coded and decoded by well trained technicians and super human machines. A message received by us from the front can be relayed on to the states in a very short time.”
After the war, Betty taught at American bases in Wiesbaden, Germany, and Tachikawa, Japan. While she was abroad, she took full advantage of the opportunity to travel extensively.
Betty later married and had a son. She was a teacher for Rochester Community Schools for many years, serving at Stoney Creek School, North Hill Elementary, and Meadowbrook Elementary.
Betty Jean Case Slazinski died on September 11, 1971, and was laid to rest at Mount Avon Cemetery.
Photo credit: David Slazinski