Elizabeth "Betty" Czapf Corbin

Elizabeth “Betty” Czapf was born December 15, 1902 in Kulpmont, Pennsylvania, the 3rd child of her immigrant parents, Mariska Gonda and Lajos Czapf ,and the first born in America. Her parents and two older siblings had immigrated from Hungary in 1901. Lajos worked as a blacksmith to support the family and Mariska stayed home and continued to have more children. However the family would lose many of their children at young ages. Julia, 6 months old, in 1910, Helen only 2 weeks old in June of 1915, followed by Joseph age 8 in July, and then Michael, who was 2, pulled a boiling pot Betty also lost her older sister Mary in 1918 at age 19. 

 

Mary and Betty Czapf

In her early 20s Betty moved to NYC and was a servant for a family in Manhattan. Her mother, who was living in Michigan with her two youngest children, passed away in 1930. Afterwards Betty moved to Michigan as well. There she met and fell in love with Grant Corbin whom she married on July 29, 1933. They had two daughters Dorothy (1934) and Edith (1944) Grant worked for the Ford Frame & Cold Heating Plant and Betty worked as a seamstress for a fur company while the girls were in school. 

Betty's mother in law Emmer Gentle, her father Lajos Czapf, Betty, her husband Grantford Corbin, and youngest sister Olga (who is still alive today at over 102)

In 1956 Grant passed away from complications due to bronchitis. Betty got a job working for GM sewing interior car seats to support herself and 12 year old Edith. Her father Lajos also lived with her until his death in 1959. Betty remained in Michigan for the rest of her life. 

Mary and her mother Mariska Gonda

 
On Aug 4, 1994 Betty passed away leaving behind her two daughters, 3 grand-children, and 3 of her siblings.