Obituary of Betty Jane Westermier

Betty was born in Moline, Illinois and lived in Rock Island, Illinois with her parents, Jennie Viviani and Joshua Yarrington. Her mother was Italian and her father was of Irish/English dissent. With the volatile Italian, Irish combination you’d expect her to be fiery but that she was quiet, calm and sophisticated. Always a sweet, lovely lady. She was loyal and dedicated to her family. Betty went to Lincoln Grade School and Central Junior High and Rock Island high school. She was always a top student, very serious about her education. In Rock Island she and Jeri were very involved with family. There were 11 children in her mother‘s family and seven and her father’s, which means lots of aunts and uncles and cousins. There were always parties, fun times at different parks, lots of Italian food and great activities. Christmas was an especially fantastic holiday. There was always one uncle who dressed as Santa for all the kids. Tons of presents, lots of great food, card games and good times with cousins. All the aunts and uncles adored Betty. She was beautiful, quiet and a sweet young girl. At 15 she and her sister, Jeri, went to San Diego to live with her aunt and uncle, Annie and Scotty McIntosh. She loved living in San Diego. She attended La Jolla High, San Diego High School and San Diego State College. In 1952 she married Charles Westermier and moved to Phoenix, Arizona. Eventually they moved to San Diego. They had five children together. David, Teresa, Paula, John and their youngest, Brian. She is predeceased by her oldest son, David. Betty felt very blessed when she had her grandchildren. She often told me she was very proud of Stephanie, Tamara and Jacob. When her great grandchildren, Tamara’s sons, Tommy and Tyler came along she was very happy. I think she would have liked to spend more time with them. She used to spend a lot of time with her son David. David was her companion on her shopping and lunch out times. I know it was terribly hard for her to lose him. In recent years her son Brian looked after his mother and she loved spending time with him. Betty is back home now with our Lord and I feel she’s happy to be healthy and feeling wonderful.