Elizabeth "Betty" (Nostadt) Wray
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Betty Wray was the main founder of GGD and the person who has been working tirelessly on writing newsletter articles, editing the newsletter, contacting sources for articles, and helping individual members since 1995, She passed away on February 4, 2026 while still being active in GGD affairs in the final week of her life. She will be sorely missed by Galizien descendants both in America and around the world. A memorial services for Betty Wray was held on Wednesday, February 25. The service was recorded via Zoom. Logged in members can view the service until to about March 28 at the link below: The recording is 91 minutes long but much of the beginning is waiting for it to start. The first speaker appears at 14 minutes and the very interesting talk by Betty's daughter starts at 20 minutes into the presentation. |
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TRIBUTES
Truly sad to learn of Betty's passing. Betty is actually a relative of mine and she has been so instrumental in my learning about my mother's maternal lineage I believe our great grandparents were brother and sister and their parents were Konrad Schuster and Elizabeth Spanier.
Thank you for letting us all know Betty was so invested in her ancestry work and has been such a wonderful tutor. Deepest condolences to those who knew her well
Member F066, Ontario Canada
I too am very sorry to hear of Bettys’ passing. She was the first person who I heard from several years ago when I sent an inquiry about GGD to an email address. Betty came back with answers and helped me understand what GGD it was about and how might help me. She convinced me that I should join and I did. I’ll always remember her for her kindness and willingness to give me a hand and maybe give me that little push I needed to get involved by joining. I really didn’t know that she was one of those key people within GGD but I soon found out. She was an individual that was a leader within GGD and she led by example. I’ll always remember her for what she did for me and certainly many others throughout the years.
My condolences to Betty’s family and all that knew her.
May Betty rest in peace,
Member S026, Texas USA
Sad to hear of Betty's passing; God bless her.
Member L066, New York, USA
We thank you for the sad news; your biological and genealogical children will miss her greatly! Without her, there would be no GGD!? Well, it is the way of life that everyone must go at some point, and it continues to affect the Galician Germans again and again. As you may have already read in our newsletter, our 'Guardian of Galician History,' Prof. Erich Müller, has passed away. Thus, the sorrow of our wise generation unites us.
Sincerely
Member T059, Director of GGD's sister organization, "The Galician Germans – History and Remembrance Culture Association”, Germany
I'm so sorry to learn of Betty's passing. She was such a wonderful person, so full of knowledge and was a great help to me when I first started my 'genealogy trip'.
My deepest condolences to her family and to all of you at the GGD. She will be missed by hundreds of her 'children'.
Member L040, Ontario Canada
I am sorry to hear the sad news about Betty Wray. I know she was a driving force for the GGD over many years.
Member Tom Porth, Deleware, USA
This is very sad news. Betty was my first contact and was VERY helpful in assisting me in the start of my research. Sincere Condolences to Betty’s family, our GGD family , and friends. Her contributions and love for the survival of our heritage can not be underestimated. Murray and Betty will be guiding us from the special place for genealogists. 😍
R.I.P. Dear Betty
Member Margaret Graham, Manitoba, Canada
Dear Lisa and All,
Sad to hear the news of Betty's death. We had many occasions to talk about Galicia. It was not too long ago she sent me a text and we had a short conversation.
Member D001, one of the earliest., Illinois, USA
I am so very sorry to learn of Betty's passing. She was always so helpful to me even from the very beginning. It is primarily because of Betty that GGD has grown and become a great resource for those searching for their Galizien ancestors'.... she's a resource we'll miss. R.I.P. Betty
Member J002, Washington, USA, another very early member
Thank you for sharing the sad news about Betty's passing. She was my first contact with GGD and I have appreciated her many contributions to
genealogy over the years I have admired her hard work, her dedication, and her passion for history and genealogy data. She will be missed. My condolences to the staff at GGD and to her family.
Member S065, Alberta, Canada
In addition to her biological children, we GGD members are her "genealogy children" who will carry on her genealogy research and education efforts about Galizien Germans. May she rest in peace knowing this.
Paul Gauer, GGD President, New Jersey, USA
I first contacted Betty in 1999 and she helped me navigate the Galizien genealogical landscape as she seems to freely do for anyone who first tries to research their Galician German roots. Later, she needed an assistant webmaster to help Murray Gauer so she asked me and we started communicating a lot. I visited her and Jim in 2012 and we really got to know and trust each other. For many year Betty essentially ran GGD on her own with some help from translators and the webmasters. She was a very energetic lady, always seeking to develop the understanding of Galician Germans in others. She continued to be an active contributor and reviewer even after several significant medical issues. I will definitely miss her personally and for her colossal input to the understanding of Galician Germans by English speaking people around the world. GGD would not exist if it were not for Betty.
John Kaminski, Ontario Canada (GGD Webmaster)
Thank you for passing along the sad news about Betty. Please send my heartfelt condolences to her family and friends.
Member P065, New York, USA
It is really sad news. I have known Betty for more than 20 years, and she has always been helpful, kind and full of humor. I will miss her emails and I will keep her in my memory as an outstanding personality.
Please convey my deepest condolences to her family.
Member D000, Germany
I will miss my friend Betty. We never met in person or lived near each other, but still became good friends over, well, more than 20 years of emails, business, and pictures.
When I retired I became interested in exploring my father's heritage. He was born in Galizien and raised in Bukovina as his village teacher father moved on. After World War I military service my father moved on to the capital of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, Vienna, and that is my home town. My adult home, however, is in Michigan. So, probably in 2004, I started looking through the internet and found the Galizien German Descendants and Betty Wray. When Betty understood that I was German/English bi-lingual, she immediately sent me a book chapter to translate; and that happened to be from a book I had recently purchased in Vienna. And we were on our way to a long exchange of emails, GGD business, and in time, personal, empathetic to what is happening in our lives and with our families. There is an adorable picture of Grandpa with their oldest granddaughter hanging onto her little boy cousin, among the nasturtiums along the driveway. I could never grow nasturtiums, I tried. Or orange trees, not in my Michigan yard. Those were the good days. Many emails were about the translations she asked me to do, and the rescues, when other translators got stuck on dialect words that defied auto-translate and dictionaries. The translations were always my pleasure, they allowed me to use my "mother tongue", which I rarely have a chance to use otherwise. There was the pork roast recipe she was fixing for a potluck and the bottle of Gravy Master she mailed me, so I could also make the pork roast. And a bar of fancy soap her granddaughter had made. Those were the good times. Somewhere, if I search through my pile of papers, there should be the explanation of how to work the tricks for a magic show for children, dressed in a clown suit. And then there were desperate emails from Betty in the hospital, when she was going through her triple hip replacement, and the frustratingly slow progress at home, but she persevered. When our correspondence lagged, there would be a phone call from California in Betty's commanding alto voice, wondering what is happening here. I will miss all this. It was a very special connection. Betty was a "do-er".
Erika Paulson, GGD Editor, Michigan, USA