In Memoriam: Betty Weatherill, 1920-2020

My maternal grandmother, Betty Weatherill, passed away on Sunday. She was 100.

Her obituary, beautifully written my my mother and my aunts, says far more than I could hope to about her life, so I will include it in its entirety at the end of this post.

Growing up, Grandma’s house was always warm and welcoming. We spent many long hours playing cards and games of all kinds at her kitchen table, eating ice cream and various desserts on her sun porch, and going for walks around Bloomsburg. Grandma was always up for a walk, and even visited us in Washington, DC in 2006 for the Cherry Blossom Festival, walking several miles around the National Mall with a smile.

Grandma was 88 when Kelsey and I got married in 2008. Aunt Mary flew in with her family from Texas. We didn’t know it then, but it would be the last time that Grandma, her three daughters, and all four of her grandchildren would be together.

Grandma always loved children. We told her that Kelsey was pregnant with Rayleigh during Christmas dinner in 2009, and the joy on her face is palpable.

Grandma was always skilled (lucky?) at games, and that apparently includes games held at baby showers. She took home a few prizes from ours.

A few months before Rayleigh was born, Grandma, Ann, Paul, Jill, and Karl came to visit us in New York. By this time, she was walking with a cane, but had no problems with the hilly walk we went on that day.

Here she is in 2015, meeting Ainsley for the first time. Seeing children, particularly babies, always made her smile.

As the years wore on, Grandma developed dementia, and eventually moved into a memory care ward of a nursing home in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Whenever we visited her, we took the kids, because even if she didn’t know who we were, kids were kids, and kids made her happy.

Grandma would always sing to herself when she was cooking, or doing chores, or whenever anyone said something that reminded her of a song lyric. As the rest of her memory gradually went, her memories of music remained strong. On one visit, we brought a book of songs, and she sang along with our kids, remembering all of the words.

Family meals always ended with dessert. I can trace my sweet tooth from my mother to Grandma. There was hardly ever only one dessert on offer, and when it came time to determine who wanted what, she would always say, “well, I’ll take a little bit of each.” Now that I have a family of my own, I’m carrying forward meal traditions that were passed down from her—pork and sauerkraut at New Year’s, pickled red beet eggs at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, and her Easter cake, which is bursting with coconut inside and out, and looks like a green field of grass covered with dyed eggs.

Grandma’s outlook on life informs so much of my own. Her joy and optimism, her belief that every day was a gift, that time with family is to be cherished, and that everyone is brought closer together by sharing a meal or playing a hand of cards. It was fitting that my parents were visiting when we got the news that she had passed, and that we had spent the weekend playing cards and board games on her lime green polka-dotted card table. When I folded it up to put it away at the end of the weekend, her name was still there, written in Sharpie on a strip of masking tape. She’s gone, but she will never be forgotten. Her legacy lives on in all of us.

Obituary

Betty M. Weatherill, 100, formerly of Bloomsburg, passed away on Sunday August 30, 2020, at the Nursing Care Center of Buffalo Valley Lutheran Village, Lewisburg.

Betty was born on January 23, 1920, in Mifflinville, to Lee and Myrtle (Hofnagle) Andreas. She and her family moved to Bloomsburg in 1934, when her father became sheriff of Columbia County. Betty was a 1937 graduate of Bloomsburg High School and attended Bloomsburg State Teacher’s College for three years. She was an elementary school teacher in Mainville for two years prior to marrying her husband, Paul F. Weatherill, in 1942. They lived in Macon, GA, and Gatesville, Texas, where Paul was stationed during the war before returning to Pennsylvania in 1944. Betty and Paul moved to Millville in 1952 where they raised their four children. In 1986 she and Paul returned to Bloomsburg; Betty resided there until moving to Lewisburg in 2013. Her husband Paul passed away in 1997 after 55 years of marriage.

Betty was an enthusiastic card player, especially Bridge and Pinochle. She was a member of several Bridge clubs and played in Geisinger’s Bridgarama for several years. She was a gracious hostess, an excellent cook and baker and loved solving the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle. An avid reader, Betty was a great supporter of the Bloomsburg Public Library. She was a member of the United Methodist Women of Millville and the Friends of the Bloomsburg Public Library.

Betty will be remembered by her family as a loving mother and grandmother. She was a teacher at heart, showing us by example how to navigate the world with grace, kindness and love. She had a sweet smile, a shy laugh, and a gentle nature. She hummed as she did her housework and knew the value of sometimes just sitting on a porch and watching the world go by.

In addition to her parents and her husband, Betty was preceded in death by her brother John L. Andreas in 1987, and her son Paul L. Weatherill in 2000.

Betty is survived by her three daughters: Ann Weatherill of Lewisburg, Jill (Paul) Fodness of Riverside, and Mary (James) Eshenour of Broken Arrow, OK; four grandsons: Kevin (Kelsey Ernst) Fodness of Queensbury NY, Karl (Arielle) Fodness of Pittsburgh, Timothy (Lisa) Eshenour of Broken Arrow, OK, and Steven Eshenour of Oklahoma City, OK, and eight great grandchildren.

Services will be held privately at the convenience of the family. Contributions in Betty’s memory can be made to the Bloomsburg Public Library, 225 Market St, Bloomsburg, PA 17815.