WESTFALL, Alice Loretta (Bean) 1929-2015

WESTFALL, BEAN, SANFORD

Posted By: K. L. Kittleson
Date: 5/23/2015 at 08:38:40

MASON CITY, IOWA - Alice Loretta Bean Westfall was born of Margaret (Sanford) and Roy Herbert Bean on July 3, 1929, in Sioux City.

She died at age 85, on May 17, 2015, at the Muse Norris Hospice Inpatient Unit in Mason City.

A memorial service to celebrate her life will be held 1 p.m. Saturday, May 23, 2015, at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1309 South Kentucky Ave., Mason City.

Alice married Leo Leavern Westfall on May 24, 1947, in South Sioux City, Nebraska. They had 8 children, 32 grandchildren, 38 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.

Before marrying, Alice attended college at the age of 16 and taught one year in a one room country school at Briden Baugh School between Dakota City and Hubbard, Nebraska.

Alice loved her family and devoted her life to being a wife and mother. She worked only occasionally out of the home as waitress and for a short while at Charlie Brown Day Care Center. She enjoyed crafts and was often challenged by new projects which included but were not limited to painting, crocheting, sewing, tatting, making jewelry, dolls and helping grandchildren make hand prints in plaster of paris. At one time her dining room walls were covered with many years of plaster hand prints from babies to young adult grandchildren.

Alice loved to read and loved words. She said as a child she enjoyed reading the dictionary. This love of words made her love to write and she wrote many poems and short stories which she compiled into a book called, "A Coat of Many Colors." She was a great story teller and would often share her memories with her children and grandchildren.

Alice was a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and held many callings. Her favorite calling was with genealogy. She spent many hours scraping old head stones and gathering names out of cemeteries. She was very active in the church's Family History Center until her health made it too difficult to do the work there, but she continued to do hours of extraction work at home to help put names into the church’s massive computer records.

In her last years, she suffered from arthritis and was cared for by her daughter, Julie Westfall. She became very close to Julie and developed a binding friendship. They enjoyed fishing, gardening, shopping, and dining out together.

Alice spent the last few months of her life at the Good Shepherd Care Center in Mason City where she received loving care from many CNAs and Nurses.

Alice expired May 17, 2015, from cirrhosis of the liver at the Hospice of North Iowa Inpatient Unit where nurses and family kept vigil at her bedside. She was comfortable and died with dignity amongst those who loved her.

Alice was preceded in death by her husband, her son, Stephen, two brothers, John and William Bean, and her parents.

She is survived by her son: David (Laurel) Westfall; daughter-in-law: Patricia (Ken) Weber; daughters: Julie Westfall, Kathy (Stephan) Hegwer; Jacky (Carl) Funk; Barbara (Charles) Jackson; sons: Roy (Dawn) Westfall; James (Lynne) Westfall; and many grandchildren; great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren.

www.retzfh.com.

Source: Mason City Globe Gazette, 23 MAY 2015