Betty Strom

Betty Lou Kalka Strom, age 85, died at home while under hospice care following extensive medical treatment over the last several years for various conditions with her husband and son at her side. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11:00 a.m., Thursday, May 28, at St. Jerome Catholic Church, with Fr. James Ekeocha as Celebrant. A visitation will be held at the church prior to the service beginning at 9:30 a.m., followed by a rosary at 10:30 a.m.
Graveside inurnment of Betty’s ashes will be held at 1:00 p.m., Thursday, June 4, at Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Killeen.
Betty was born on March 10, 1935 to Sylvester Bud and Frances (Adamietz) Kalka in the small town of Bandera, TX, in the beautiful hill country of south central Texas. She grew up a “country gal” (and proud of it!). On Independence Day, July 4, 1953 she married Wesley Eugene “Gene” or “Wes” Strom and ultimately wound up following him around with the US Air Force for 22 years and bearing three sons. At the time of her death they had been married just one month and fourteen days short of 67 years.
Betty is survived by her husband, Wes; three sons, David Wayne, Wesley Ray and Karl Eric and his wife Joanna, all of Waco and West, TX; one brother, Lloyd V. Kalka and wife Emma of Tecumseh, OK; four grandchildren; two step-grandchildren and one great-grandchild. One of her sons, Wesley Ray, wrote the following:
“On Thursday, May 21st, around noon, my mom began her final journey to where there is undoubtedly the most beautiful creek to stick her feet into. She always enjoyed sitting on a bank’s edge and resting her feet in cool, flowing water. Several hours before she went on her journey, I put her headphones on and played George Strait for her. She almost made it to number 45 out of the 71 songs she had on her tablet.”