A lifetime in miniature: Betty Turmon showcases 85 years of craft
Published on December 12, 2025
She’s 94 years old and has been making miniatures since the fourth grade. Now, for the first time, her work is on public display.
Meet Betty Turmon, a former schoolteacher turned accountant who has been a hobby artist for 85 years.
“I just love it,” Betty said. “It's so much fun to come up with ideas of how to do different things.”
Over the years, she’s created dozens of miniature worlds: The Villa. The Savannah House. Vivian’s House. Safari Bed and Bath Suite. Cottage By the Sea. Some even come with their own stories. The Savannah House, for example, belongs to Mavis, a retired concert pianist who’s preparing for a party.
Her favorite miniature is her recreation of Mimi’s Café in Overland Park, which has since closed.
“When I made this, cell phones were not all that popular,” she said. “I had one but I was too embarrassed to take pictures so I would go in there and eat, go home and kind sketch out what I saw.”
Today, she says, pre-made miniature supplies are everywhere.
“Today, you can buy almost anything already made,” Betty said. “To me, that’s not fun, just buying things and putting them together. I want to make it from scratch. I want to get the lumber and the cloth.”
Six of her miniatures are now on display at the Lenexa City Art Gallery through Jan. 25, 2026.
Betty keeps a wide range of materials on hand: thin wood for furniture, beads for cases and accessories, plastic brick, leather gloves — you name it. Her miniatures are all built to a precise scale of ¼ inch to 1 foot, a detail that guides every piece of furniture, every doorway, and every tiny scene she creates.
“I remember my husband coming in and saying, found this in the parking laughing 'can you use this' Take it. You never know.”
She built the exterior of The Villa during a class, then tucked it away for 17 years. When COVID hit, she finally decided it was time to finish the interior.
Her creativity shows up in even the smallest details. The lawn mower, for example, is made from a carved piece of balsa wood, with a bent wire handle, a round wooden motor, and tires punched from fun foam.
While the shells of her houses often come from kits, everything inside is Betty’s own creation.
“I love theater too and so I would I'd go to plays and you know, you're not supposed to take pictures, so I didn't,” she said. “I would get home and then kind of sketch out what I had seen. I did the Bell of Amherst.”
After her husband died, she cleared out his home office— “he had an office at home that had bookcases all on around several walls and so I gave away the books.”
Betty creates four miniatures a year, finishing one and immediately starting the next. Many are even wired for electricity, with switches cleverly hidden.
She still lives independently in Johnson County; in the same home she’s lived in for 55 years —surrounded by the tiny worlds she imagines and brings to life.