Neta Russell helped build planes in World War II, worked as a waitress and devoted decades to helping people with alcoholic friends and family members.
Russell died July 26. She was 84.
She was dedicated to her two daughters despite “the chaos and craziness” in their home because of their father’s drinking, said her daughter Resa Haskell of Westminster.
She was “absolutely a survivor,” Haskell said.
“I always knew we could rely on our mother, and I’m grateful she never gave up. She never played the victim and never made excuses.”
“She was an amazing money manager, determined to pay her bills,” said her daughter Rhea Vann of Aurora.
Russell volunteered for years with Al-Anon and was good with people because “she was straightforward and had no pretenses,” Vann said.
“Al-Anon helps you have a life, no matter what some other person is doing,” Vann said.
Russell continued her work with Al-Anon until nearly the end of her life, going to meetings while in a wheelchair.
She suffered from diabetes, arthritis and curvature of the spine.
Russell worked as an alcohol and drug counselor at Arapahoe House, a treatment center for those with substance-abuse problems.
She was a volunteer “grandmother” to grade-school students at an Englewood elementary school.
“She always had to be busy doing something,” Vann said.
Wauneta Snyder was born in Hamlet, Neb., on either Aug. 8 or Aug. 10, said Rhea Vann, adding that the day her mother celebrated her birthday wasn’t the same date as that printed on her birth certificate.
When she was 2, she moved with her family to Haxtun.
During World War II, she worked in St. Louis and New Orleans in “Rosie the riveter” jobs, helping to build planes.
She married Benjamin Russell on Jan. 14, 1959. He died in 1997.
Before marrying, she worked as a waitress in Georgia, Florida and Colorado.
In addition to her daughters, she is survived by eight grandchildren and step-grandchildren.
Inside.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
