Kistler Center co-founder dies at age 85
by July 22, 2009 11:49 am 162 views
Betty Kistler, co-founder of the Fort Smith-based The Gregory Kistler Treatment Center, died Tuesday (July 21) after a year-long battle with cancer, according to a statement released Wednesday morning by the center.
Following is the complete statement from the center.
Betty Kistler, co-founder of The Gregory Kistler Treatment Center For Children, Inc., passed away on Tuesday, July 21, 2009, in Fort Smith following a year-long battle with cancer. The funeral service and celebration of her life of caring for the needs of special children will be held on Saturday, July 25th, at 1:00 P.M. in Edwards Funeral Home Chapel at North 12th and B Streets in Fort Smith.
Betty, along with her husband, Wayne, founded the Kistler Treatment Center in 1978 to provide help and hope for area children in need of rehabilitative therapeutic treatment for a variety of disorders. At that time, this Fort Smith homemaker and her firefighter husband wanted to provide help not only for their son, Gregory, who was struck by a car, and granddaughter, Michelle, who was born with spina bifida, but also for countless other children and their families in the Fort Smith region.
Today, The Gregory Kistler Treatment Center has a 31 year reputation of providing outstanding occupational, physical, and speech-language therapy to children. Currently, the Kistler Center serves several hundred patients who come for treatment from 7 counties in Arkansas and 6 counties in Oklahoma, always with the policy that no child is turned away due to the financial circumstances of his or her family.
Throughout her life, after the Kistler Center was founded, Betty continued to be an inspiration to the Kistler Center board of directors, and staff. She and Wayne, her husband of 64 years, were typically involved to lend their support, encouragement, and guidance at events, meetings and activities for the benefit of the Kistler Center. After Wayne’s passing in early 2006, Betty continued her presence with a keen interest and shared her calm, caring nature to give inspiration to the purpose they both were so dedicated to: “there are no limitations in a child’s eyes.”
(Editor’s note: The City Wire offers its condolences to the Kistler family, and expresses sincere gratitude to Betty and the many others at the center who have — and continue to do so — had a positive impact in the lives of thousands of children.)