On October 22, 1942 Amanda Hilda Christine Haabala was born to Alexander Mathias Haabala and Hilda Emelia Haabala (Lander); she was the middle of three children. She was baptized in the spring of 1943 at the Finnish Apostolic Church in Moe Township and confirmed in the Christian faith in 1956 at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Moe Township. She grew up on their family farm south of Brandon, MN in a Finnish community. She attended country school for four years and graduated from Brandon High School in 1960 as Valedictorian of her class. After high school, she moved to the Twin Cities to pursue a career in nursing. She applied and had been accepted to Swedish Hospital but decided to work a year before starting nursing school. She was hired as a legal secretary at a small law firm in the Twin Cities and enjoyed her job immensely. She ended up working there for three years and dismissed the idea of becoming a nurse. While in the Twin Cities, Hilda began dating Will Bettermann and they married in November of 1962. After the birth of their first child, Cynthia Marie, they decided to move back to the Brandon area to raise their daughter. They purchased a 70-acre farm where they raised crops, vegetables and milked cows until 1972. During this time they had another child, Randall Lee.