Elizabeth H Webber

Elizabeth “Betty” Hazeltine Webber passed away in the early hours of June 3, 2011. She was a resident of Emsworth, Pennsylvania for most of her life, and resided at the Masonic Village in Sewickley, PA for the past seven years.

Betty Webber lived a full and exciting life, witnessing and participating in the dramatic events of the 20th and early 21st centuries. As a child, she and her family raised chickens at their home across the street from Latshaw’s Drugstore. She loved telling the story about watching the Emsworth Volunteer Fire Company pull their rig from their station, two blocks away, to put out a fire at her next-door neighbor’s house when she was five years old.

Betty attended Emsworth Elementary School and then Ben Avon High School, graduating with the Class of 1938. She graduated from the Pennsylvania College for Women (now Chatham University) in 1942, and married her longtime sweetheart, William Sloan Webber, later that fall. While her husband served in the U.S. Navy from 1942 through 1946, Betty spent the war years in Emsworth, San Francisco, and Brooklyn, traveling by train to San Francisco and Los Angeles to meet Bill as often as possible during those difficult years.

After World War II, Betty and Bill settled back in Emsworth and raised a family of five children, all of whom survive her. She was an active, loving mother and all of her children and grandchildren treasure their memories of growing up in an exciting, unpredictable, and fun-loving household with plenty of love and activity. She instilled a strong sense of right and wrong in all her children.

Betty was active in several community organizations, including the Ben Avon Presbyterian Church, KDKA’s Call for Action, the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, Emsworth Library (that her mother helped to create), adult literacy programs, and the Shannopin Country Club Women’s Golf Association.

An avid sportswoman, Betty was a high-school athlete of distinction, playing basketball and field hockey and leading cheers. She was an excellent golfer, and was active in the Shannopin Country Club Women’s Golf Association. Her family was thrilled when she scored a hole-in-one on the 17th hole at Shannopin in 1983.

In her later years, Betty devoted her time to her family and friends. She spent time playing golf and bridge. At the Masonic, she joined other residents to knit clothing for needy children in the United States, and to pack and send boxes of supplements for armed services personnel abroad. Because she paid close attention to nutrition, she volunteered on the retirement home’s food committee.

Betty loved to be around her children and their families. She looked forward to holidays when they could get together. Each summer she arranged for a boisterous family reunion with children, grandchildren, cousins and friends in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland. She became a true matriarch of the Webber family and will be missed by all.

Betty is survived by her five children, Lynne W. Biegler (Larry) of Pittsburgh, Polly A. Webber of Mountain View, CA, Kathryn W. Blake (Mitch) of Morgantown, WV, William S. Webber, Jr (Nancy). of Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY, and Thomas J. Webber (Rose) of Madison, WI, eleven grandchildren, Matt Biegler, Jesse and Sarah DeWath, Scott, Jamie and Emily Blake, Lizzy and Will Webber, T.J, Andy and Abbey Webber, one great-grandchild, Mitchel Blake, and her brother Lawrence Hazeltine.

She is preceded in death by her loving husband William S. Webber of 57 years and her sister Ruth Russell

A memorial service will be held Monday, June 27th at 2:00pm in the Star Point building (Assembly room) at the Masonic Village, Sewickley. Gifts in her memory will be accepted at Doctors Without Borders or the American Heart Association.