Elizabeth “Betty” Rasmussen died peacefully on September 29, 2026, at Ivinson Memorial Hospital.

Elizabeth June Hauck was born to Conrad and Marjorie Hauck in Elizabeth New Jersey, in June 1938.  Growing up in Cranford NJ and then in Scotch Plains NJ where the family later moved, she loved to play the piano and paint.  She earned money painting portraits.  She preferred painting in oils but later had to switch to watercolors when her allergies developed.  She and her younger brother, John, also worked with her father as he was publishing his weekly newspaper, The Chronicle.  She graduated from Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School in 1956.   

She attended Syracuse University where she got her degree in art.  While there she married her first husband and they moved to Laramie where he was a professor of literature at UW.  While on vacation in Florida she was out walking when was accidentally sprayed by a crop duster which eventually led to severe allergies and chemical sensitivities which affected her for the rest of her life.   After becoming increasingly ill, Elizabeth finally found a doctor in Colorado who was able to effectively treat her allergies.  She celebrated by flying by herself to Europe with her allergy shots and toured England and France with a London acquaintance that she had met at Syracuse. 

After she remarried, she took graduate level courses at UW in computer science and microbiology and earned her PhD in Clinical Psychology in August 2004.  While working toward her Doctorate she spent a year clerkship at Ft Mead, South Dakota, working with veterans which she especially enjoyed. 

Her doctor recognized her knowledge and abilities with her microbiology training and taught her to make, test and administer her own allergy treatments and later, at one point when he needed to replace a technician, he hired her to make the concentrated sterile solutions that he needed in his practice to treat his patients.

She was active in the Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship of Laramie as long as her health permitted and was a strong advocate in women’s issues as a volunteer at the Laramie Safe Project.  With her grant writing skills, she was instrumental in founding the first Displaced Homemaker/Single Parent Program in Wyoming administered by the University of Wyoming.  Her efforts played a role which led the way for many disenfranchised women in the state to get a more advanced education and higher paying jobs enabling them to raise their children at a higher standard of living. 

She is survived by her husband, Ed, son, Mike Laskowsky, and brother, John Hauck.  Her other son, Adam Laskowsky, and sister, Dorothy, have preceded her in death.

No services have been scheduled at this time.

Memorial donations may be made to the Safe Project and/or Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship of Laramie.