Elizabeth A. Hartmann Nilles

Elizabeth (Betty) Anne Hartmann Nilles was born August 4th, 1927 in Saranac Lake, New York to Benedict A. Hartmann and Charlotte M. (Lang) Hartmann. She attended Saint Bernard’s Catholic School from 1st through 7th grades. Following her father’s death the family moved to the Bronx, New York in the summer of 1937. There, she attended St Jerome’s Catholic School and Walton High School. After completing high school in 1944, she attended Fordham Hospital School of Nursing, graduating as a Registered Nurse in February 1948. She began her nursing career at Fordham Hospital, then worked at New York Port-Graduate Hospital and New York University Hospital-Bellevue Medical Center. In June of 1952, she received her commission as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force assigned to Medical Officers Training at Gunter Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. After basic training she was stationed at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas, but returned for a short time to Montgomery Air Base for training. There she received her Flight Nurses’ Wings. It was at Lackland that she met William O’Neil Nilles, the love of her life. They were married September 18th, 1954 at St Jerome’s Roman Catholic Church in the Bronx, New York. After their discharge from the Air Force in June of 1955, Betty and Bill moved to Fargo, ND where they spent 53 years together. It was here that they raised their six children: Patty, Cathy, Bob, Mary, Char and Rich.

Betty and Bill were charter members of Nativity Catholic Church. Betty was active in the guild, she also volunteered many hours in the Nativity School library. She belonged to the Fargo Catholic Nurses Association, the Catholic Daughters of the Americas and was an Associate with the Presentation Sisters in Fargo. Both she and Bill were strong supporters of Catholic Education. She and Bill enjoyed many years at their home on Upper Cormorant Lake-the quiet times and the louder times with their large extended family and many friends. Aunts, uncles and cousins came out to the lake to spend long days in the sun and on the water. She and Bill hosted members of the Knights of Columbus for picnics and pontoon rides. Lake friends still celebrate together every 4th of July. After Bill died, Betty lived independently between the cottage and her home in Fargo, moving to Riverview Place in 2021.

Betty dedicated her life to raising her children and taking care of Bill.

Her smile was infectious and could light up a room. She was extremely smart, strong, brave, independent, gracious and generous, but if you knew her, you knew this.

She is survived by six children (who know how very lucky they are to have had her as their mother): Patricia Clark, Catherine Nilles (Bruce Melchert), Robert Nilles, Mary Nilles-Fredrickson (Tom Fredrickson), Charlotte Kitsch (Nicholas), Richard Nilles (Barbara); her grandchildren: Daniel Clark III (Alison),Michelle Hartfiel, Elizabeth Ferguson (John), Marie Millberg (John), Thomas Nilles-Melchert, Logan Fredrickson (Ali), Peter Fredrickson (Nikole), Andrew Kitsch (Ashley), Matthew Kitsch, Kathryn Kitsch, Alexander Nilles, Sydney Nilles. and 11 great-grandchildren with one due on her birthday, her brother Edward Hartmann, and many, many wonderful nieces, nephews and longtime dear friends.

She is preceded in death by: her parents, her loving husband Bill (2007), son-in-law Dan Clark, daughter-in-law Coleen Sykora, grandson-in-law Michael Hartfiel, her sister Frances and husband Gerard Bransfield, sister-in-law Margaret Hartmann, sister-in-law Nancy McLaughlin, and husband Raymond, brother-in-law J. Michael Nilles, and wife Barbara, as well as so many other close relatives and friends who were there to greet her.

It would be a colossal understatement to say that Betty was an avid reader. She devoured books from the time she learned to read, until just a few months ago when she lost her sight. If it was printed on paper, Betty read it. In lieu of flowers, gifts to the library at

Riverview Place for the purchase of large print books are preferred or, please, make a gift to any library in her memory.