Obituary for Betty Jane MacInnes

Oro Valley Arizona- (September 1, 2026) Betty Jane MacInnes, nee Smalley,was born in Buffalo, NY on May 19, 1929 to parents Russell and Kathleen Smalley. When she was 6 months old her family moved to Philadelphia, PA. She attended the Sharon Hill Academy, and obtained her Bachelors in Business Administration degree from the College of Saint Elizabeth in New Jersy.

She met the love of her life, Hugh MacInnes, at a fraternity party on the campus of the Stevens Institute of Technology in NJ. They married in February 1951. They promptly moved to Southern California where Hugh worked for Air Research as a
mechanical engineer and Betty gave birth to children Kathy, Hugh David, and Russell.

In 1956, they moved to a suburb of Cleveland OH, Richmond Hts. Hugh worked for TRW and Betty had 2 more children, Brian and Heather. While in Ohio, Betty was active in the national Catholic Women’s Sorority, Kappa Gamma Pi. Her focus was to obtain government school vouchers for children to attend private schools.

In 1966, Hugh moved the family to Bayshore NY. In 1969 the family moved to upstate NY and the following year moved to Westminster, CA. While in Westminster, Betty assisted Hugh with the typing and editing of his first book, How to Select and Install Turbochargers. Hugh would dictate the contents of the book and Betty would transcribe the dictation. At the end of each dictation Hugh would tell her a joke or funny story. The children would see Betty laughing while typing and wondered what was so funny about turbochargers. Every year, since its publication, she has received royalties from the book.

In 1972, Betty was employed by the Huntington Beach School District as the Administrative Asst. for the History Department. Within that year she was voted, Assistant of the Year by the staff and students.

In 1973, the family moved to La Canada, CA. Betty was active in the La Canada New Comers Club, St. Bede’s Catholic church and the Descanso Garden outreach to disabled children.

In 1983 Hugh passed away at the young age of 60. The following year Betty was hired by the Huntington Memorial Hospital. Pasadena, CA, to create and run their community outreach program, the Huntington Collection to support the Senior Care Network. The Collection was a thrift, consignment, resale store. She established programs for the low-income populations in the Pasadena CA area. She worked at the hospital for 35 years and retired at age 90.

She moved to Oro Valley AZ in 2024 to be close to her daughter, Kathy. She loved attending St.Mark’s Catholic Church using the Sun Shuttle for transport.

Betty is survived by the following children and their spouses, Kathy McNeese and her husband Steve Gossard, Russell and Karen MacInnes, Brian and Lori MacInnes, and Heather Benson and her husband Jeff Flaherty. Her son Hugh died last year. His wife Kayoko MacInnes survives him. Betty’s grandchildren include Craig and Douglas McNeese, Hugh Naoki and Keenan MacInnes, Jaime MacInnes Schwiegart, Rianne MacInnes, Michael and Megan MacInnes, Hannah Costa and Quade Benson. Her great grandchildren include, Presley Schwiegart, Reagan McNeese, Lincoln McNeese, Jackson McNeese, Dakota Isola and Savannah Isola.

In lieu of flowers please donate to the college of your choice or the Catholic church.
Betty will be interred alongside her husband, Hugh, at the Mount Olive Cemetery in Bloomfield, NJ.