Betty Labas Ruck grew up all over the city of Pittsburgh and attended Frick School for eight years and graduated from Schenley High School. She attended Community College of Allegheny County and received a degree in Child Care and has worked at Volkwein's and as an xray technician at West Penn where she developed film. She married Burt Hamel and had four children, Karen, Jimmy, Thomas and Mary Ellen and seven grandchildren and three great grandchildren. She began to take flute lessons when she was in eighth grade after starting out playing the recorder. Betty spent her formative years at First Baptist Church where she attended the Baptist Youth Fellowship and Camp Corbly. She attended a Catholic church for many years but returned to First Baptist in 2005 where she regularly attends services and Bible Study and Sunday School before her health worsened. In her spare time, she collects Barbie dolls and enjoys crocheting outfits for them. Last Christmas she accompanied the Young Adults on the flute as they sang at her apartment when they visited her hi-rise for Christmas caroling.