Betty Baumgardt

Betty Lou Beasa, Canfield, Camp, Baumgardt, 99 (almost 100), a resident of Wausau, passed away peacefully on Saturday, March 9, 2024 of natural causes from a life well-lived. She was born April 26, 1924, in Wausau to Irene and Paul Beasa.

Being raised on a farm with a hard-working attitude of “get it done,” she started working at Winkleman’s department store in high school and after graduation from Wausau High School she worked for the local telephone company. 

Betty married her first husband Jerrid Canfield, a WWII veteran, from Antigo. They lived in Wausau to raise their family of five children. She was involved in many community and professional organizations such as Welcome Wagon, secretary of Parents & Teachers Association (Riverview Elementary School), served on the board of directors of the YMCA, became president of Wausau Women’s Business Professional Club, and the Zonta Women’s Club.

Betty studied and received her realtor’s license and became the first woman in Wausau to open her own real estate office near the Lake Wausau dam along Grand Avenue. It is the “best realty office by a damn site” as she was fond of saying for her Canfield Realty office. Years after the death of Jerrid Canfield (1975) she married Bud Camp who also became a business partner on the commercial side of the real estate business. After the unexpected death of Bud Camp, Betty sold her long-time Wausau home and Canfield Realty business and moved to Fort Pierce, Fla. Being the fashionista and trend setter that she was, Betty even worked in retirement at an exclusive clothing boutique, Rosslows, in Fort Pierce. 

With a home in northern Wisconsin on the chain of lakes in Manitowish Waters and her condo in the sunny Florida climate, she became a “snowbird” and traveled back and forth between Florida and Wisconsin for years.

During one of her summers in Manitowish Waters, Betty became reacquainted with a high school friend-of-a-friend, Bud Baumgardt. Betty and Bud married late in life but lived many happy and fun-filled years together. They enjoyed traveling, visiting their friends in Florida and Manitowish Waters, going for pontoon boat rides on the Manitowish chain, seeing the lights on the Christmas boat parade in St. Lucie, Fla. and enjoying family visits to Colorado, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

After Betty’s husband (Bud Baumgardt) lost his battle to cancer in 2008, she stayed in Fort Pierce for almost 10 years before moving to Boulder, Colo. to be near her two daughters. But, missing her friends, Green Bay Packer games and her hometown of Wausau, she decided to move “back home” in 2020.

Betty’s four surviving children and their spouses are Geoff Canfield (Katherine Murray) of Lake Havasu, Ariz.; Tim (Helen) Canfield of St. Paul, Minn.; Scott (Ruth) Canfield of Blanchardville, and Lisa (Darrell) McConnell of Niwot, Colo. She was preceded in death by a daughter, Eve Canfield (Jabe Hickey) of Longmont, Colo. Her seven surviving grandchildren are Weed Canfield, Jesse Canfield, Anna Lise Skubal, Shaun Canfield, Paul Canfield, Elliot Canfield, and Molly Adams; plus, eight great-grandchildren Nevada, Ruby, Daisy, Hayzel, Evelyn, Katrina, Liam and Josephine. 

A celebration of life will be held for Betty at a later date for family and friends.