Betty Joan Landes

In Loving Memory of Betty (Schreiber) Landes

It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of Betty Joan Landes, who left us on April 17, 2025 at the age of 87. Betty was a beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, educator, colleague and friend. She touched the lives of many with her kindness, generosity, commitment to education and unwavering love.

Born on February 6, 1938, to Joesph (Joe) Christian Schreiber and Ruth Edna Schreiber in West Seattle.  Everyone called her Betty Jo when she was young. She lived with her family in West Seattle, Green Lake and Burien in the Seattle area until the age of 9 when her parents purchased a resort on the water on Whidbey Island just south of Coupeville. The resort was named “Joe’s Resort” after her father and it kindled her love of the beach, lakes and boats the rest of her life.  Her favorite activities as a child were swimming and racing with the resort’s row boats. Unfortunately, at the age of 11, Betty’s father suffered a heart attack and passed away leaving Betty as the oldest child with some adult responsibilities for about 5 years while the family tried to make ends meet running the resort without Joe. Betty became very involved in 4-H and became very good at garment making. Always willing to try something new, Betty actively participated in a waterski club while in high school, an activity she later shared with her family and continued doing into her 50’s. She graduated from Coupeville High School and then went to college at Washington State University majoring in Home Economics and Education. She continued to excel at sewing, winning trips to compete nationally in Chicago and Las Vegas. She met Ray Landes while he taught her how to milk a cow so she could compete in the College of Agriculture’s Agriculture Sciences Fair Queen contest at WSU.  After Ray completed his Army active-duty service in the Vietnam War they were married and moved to Kittitas, WA where they started a family and lived for 4 years before moving back to Mossyrock.

Betty lived a life full of love, dedication and excellence. She was particularly known for her dedication to the students and families of the Mossyrock School District where she served for 30 years as the Home & Family Life and Computer Teacher. Her warmth and spirit will be remembered by all who had the privilege of knowing her. Throughout her career as an educator, Betty embodied the traits of a great teacher. She first above all cared about her students and it showed. She ignited a passion for learning, encouraged students when they were struggling, instilled confidence in them to try and master new things and inspired her students to dream big. Her contributions to the education and the mentoring of young women and men were significant and left a lasting impact on the thousands of students she taught at Mossyrock High School. Her dedication and hard work were an inspiration to many as evidenced by the numerous Facebook posts, phone calls and visits from students long after she had stopped teaching. She was beloved by both her students and fellow faculty for her commitment to excellence and how she valued people.

As great teachers do, she volunteered thousands of hours and used her own money to create education opportunities and experiences particularly for young women through her volunteer role as the Future Homemakers of America (FHA) advisor at Mossyrock High School. She mentored numerous Mossyrock students to become, local, state and national officers in FHA. By running the concession stands at all the Mossyrock football games she provided real life business experience to students and raised funds to enable special leadership trips to conferences. She also served as the school advisor for Girl’s League and was responsible for putting on the annual school sponsored Mother/Daughter Tea.  On her own time and initiative Betty also applied for and received federal grant money to buy personal computers for the students of Mossyrock High School. She also funded her own education at St Martin’s College to learn how to teach computers to high school students, making Mossyrock one of the first High School’s to adopt computer education in Lewis County. She knew that educating was more than imparting knowledge, it is about nurturing the whole person; and she lived that out.

In her personal life, Betty had a wide range of hobbies and interests. She enjoyed traveling, gardening, sewing, cooking and boating. These activities brought her joy and allowed her to connect with others who shared her passions. Her love of travel started at an early age, when she was 21, she participated in the 4-H’s International Farm Youth Exchange (IFYE) program by traveling to Taiwan for 8 months to stay with 13 different host families in rural settings between her Junior and Senior year in college. It was a program to promote world peace through cultural understanding.  The outbound trip took her to Taiwan via San Francisco on a ship and she arranged to come back indirectly via ship to complete an around the world voyage where she stopped in the Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, Sri Lanka, India, Egypt, Rome, Naples, Venice, Marseilles, Paris, London & New York. It was the trip of a lifetime and fueled her adventurous spirit, always willing to try something new.  She traveled extensively around the United States and the world on family vacations, with friends and with her husband eventually traveling to all 7 continents including Antarctica (including a night sleeping on the ice). She taught her kids to snow ski and waterski and always enjoyed a boat ride on Lake Mayfield or any other body of water.  She even successfully rode a boogie board in the surf in Hawaii and windsurfed on Lake Tapps in her 50’s; she was always up for a new adventure.

Among her favorite memories with family were annual summer trips to Cannon Beach with all her kids and grandkids along with annual family gatherings at Thanksgiving and Christmas. These cherished moments brought immense joy to her life and will be fondly remembered by all who shared them with her.

Betty has a strong Christian faith and called Jesus her Lord and Savior. Her faith was a guiding force in how she lived out her life as a wife, mother and teacher and provided her personal strength and comfort.

Betty is survived by her husband of 64 years, Ray Landes, her brother & his wife, Don & Pam Schreiber and her children, Craig Landes, Ross Landes and Andrea Wick and their spouses, her 8 grandchildren, and 1 great grandchild. She will be dearly missed by her family, friends, and all who knew her.

The family will hold a private burial service at the Swofford Cemetery.  The family is planning a public memorial service that will be held on a future to be determined date. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Viking Scholarship Fund to start a scholarship in her and Ray’s honor. Ray & Betty Landes were instrumental in founding the Mossyrock’s Viking Scholarship Fund and its operation.  With their leadership and other like-minded community leaders the Viking Scholarship Fund has grown to give out over $60,000 in scholarships to Mossyrock graduates each year.

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