Obit: Westaby, Betty Lou (? - 2015)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Westaby, Carr, Yeager, Kolstad, Koplitz, Chwala, Harrison, Punke, Romanowski, Lawcewicz, Dahl, Parker, Vandeloo

----Source: Thorp Courier (Thorp, Clark Co., WI) 5/06/2015

Westaby, Betty Lou (? - 28 April 2015)

Betty Westaby of Stanley died Tuesday, April 28, 2015, at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Marshfield. Betty was the daughter of Lawrence and Orpha (Carr) Yeager. She grew up in Hannibal, Wisconsin and attended Hannibal schools. She worked at the Stanley Corporation and Sears Store in Stanley.

‘Life is not a matter of counting the years, its matter of making the years count,’ reads a photo frame tucked in Betty Lou’s house entrance. This is a quote Betty lived her life by. Throughout Betty’s life, she created many enduring moments of love with Charles, the love of her life, married for 61 years. Their greatest pride is their family which includes five children: Robert (Pamela) of Stanley, Jeffery (Patricia) of Stanley, Laura Kolstad of Wisconsin Rapids, Kristine (Rick) Koplitz of Owen, and Becky (Todd) Chwala of Stanley; fourteen grandchildren: Shannon (Josh) Harrison, Nicole (Nick) Punke, Cassie Kolstad, Dustin (fiancé Sarah Romanowski) Westaby, Katelyn Westaby, John Kolstad, Matthew (Courtney) Lawcewicz, Elizabeth Westaby, Samantha (Josh) Dahl, Aubrey Chwala, Shawna (Fiancé T. J. Parker) Lawcewicz, Brett Chwala, and Riley Westaby; and nine great-grandchildren: Chad, Rachel, Logan, Paige, Noah, Greyson, Brantley, Easton, and Kaysen.

Betty and Charles started from meager beginnings. They worked hard, building their family homestead and milk hauling business, Westaby Milk Haulers. Betty was a jack-of-all-trades in the business, being co-manager, bookkeeper, parts runner, and occasional milk hauler. She did whatever needed to be done to keep the trucks rolling. She was part owner of a fifty-head beef herd, a dairy farm, and West Ridge Farms.

Betty enjoyed playing cards with family and friends, forever rounding up her willing grandchildren into countless games of Phase 10, which she most often won. The laughs shared over those games at holidays and other get-togethers created such joy. She was an outstanding cook, forever making too much food for her kids and grandkids at each holiday meal, and always remembering their favorite dishes.

Walking through her home and yard, it was as if you stepped into a Better Homes and Garden magazine. She took great joy in growing hundreds of plants and flowers in her greenhouse. She spent thousands of hours working in her flower beds. She loved sitting with her family on her deck or porch admiring the beautiful yard she had created. She grew a huge vegetable garden and gave a great deal of her abundant harvest to family and friends, either fresh or canned.

Betty was an artist. Her creativity was displayed throughout her home. She loved to sew and created many quilts. She painted barn quilts and scenic pictures for her children and friends to display at their homes. She refinished furniture and was an avid pottery collector. She enjoyed stopping at garage sales and hunting for her next ‘treasure.’

Betty loved go9ing to ‘The Lake,’ Miller Dam. Sitting by the fire, on the dock, or in the screen porch where she could view the family farm she grew up on, always feeling a close connection to her own family roots. Betty and her family spent many hours pontooning around the lake relaxing, fishing, and enjoying the scenery. In earlier years, she and the family would go boating and skiing on the lake.

Betty loved the family she married into. Living within a few miles of numerous Westaby family members, there were countless family gatherings and memories made in the neighborhood northeast of Otter Lake. Betty was a past member of the Otter Lake Trailblazers snowmobile club. Neighbors and family members would spend winter months snowmobiling throughout the neighborhood woods, enjoying the snowy landscape.

Betty loved to spend time with her friends. She talked about her friends with great admiration. She recently finished Tuesday morning bowling for the season and was looking forward to the beginning of weekly card games. She was a member of The Red Hats and thoroughly enjoyed their gatherings. She would meet with friends for Friday morning coffee. Betty also enjoyed going with ‘the girls’ to the casino. She enjoyed going out to eat, Friday fish fries, and having a beer and tomato juice with longtime friends.

Betty was a strong willed woman, being an advocate and role model for her daughters, granddaughters and great-granddaughters, and being tough and determined for her sons, grandsons and great-grandsons. Her strength, resiliency, and compassion will continue on through her family. She will be greatly missed by her entire family.

Betty and family lost her beloved granddaughter, Lacey Anne Westby, ten years ago. It left a break in the family circle, but Betty never let Lacey’s memory fade, talking about her and visiting her grave often.

Betty was preceded in death by her parents, Lawrence and Orpha (Carr) Yeager; brothers: Earle, Charles, Larry and Albert; sisters-in-law: Merle and Bernice; and granddaughter, Lacey Anne.

A memorial service was held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 2, 2015, at the Plombon Funeral Home in Stanley with Rev. Randy Vandeloo officiating. Inurnment followed in the Hannibal cemetery. A memorial visitation was held on Friday from 4 until 8 p.m., and Saturday one hour prior to the service at the funeral home.