Betty Jo Fast

Betty Jo Fast passed away peacefully in Tucson, Arizona while on hospice care and made her long-awaited journey to heaven on August 9th 2025. She was a remarkable woman and her faith in Christ guided her life.

Born April 21, 1933, to Homer and Rosa (Williams) Wise in Keota, Oklahoma, she was one of eight siblings. She loved her memories of the family living on Grassy Lake.

Betty was married to Daniel Fast from 1950 to 1983. They married when she was 17 years old and they moved to Oregon. They had two children, Cheryl and Larry. The family briefly moved to Nebraska in 1962, but decided Nebraska was not where they wanted to stay and returned to Oregon. The family lived in Keizer, OR until 1971. Dan built a new home on 7 acres of land south of Salem and the family moved again. Cheryl and Larry loved running down the poison oak bushes with their dad’s old pickup. Betty went on to live in Aumsville until 2024 when she moved to Tucson to live with her daughter and son-in-law.

Betty held several jobs in her life. She picked crops for many years, cherry picking being her favorite. Her children as well as many nieces and nephews have fond memories of spending summer days picking cherries with her. She went on to hold several jobs, working at Del Monte cannery, and then the State of Oregon. Her favorite job was at Fairview Training Center working with disabled children and adults. She was at work one night when a fire broke out in one of the buildings housing residents. She rushed inside the building numerous times, pushing bed bound residents to safety and was hospitalized for smoke inhalation. She worked at Fairview for 27 ½ years, retiring in 1996.

It was at Fairview Betty met her cherished friend Lorraine Pech. They loved to travel, taking a number of Alaskan cruises and many road trips with Betty’s little RV. Road trips always involved stops at antique stores with purchases often taking up most of the RV space by the time they headed home.

Born with just one hand, Betty loved it when someone would say, “well you can’t do that with one hand,” and she would always prove them wrong and do it better than a two-handed person. She loved to play softball. She was an outstanding pitcher on the State Employees Credit Union Team in the 1980’s. She took flying lessons and learned to fly an airplane, repaired automobile engines, downed trees with a chainsaw and built a deck off a two-story house.

Betty was a very loving, caring and involved mom to her two children and always wanted the best for them. She was delighted to become a grandmother in 1983. She is survived by her daughter Cheryl and son-in-law Robert Wells of Tucson, AZ, son Larry Fast of Salem, OR and grandson David Wells of Eastford, CT. She is also survived by two sisters, Francis Perceful and Peggy Simmons, both of Arkansas. We will miss her love and kindness as well as her great sense of humor.

The family would like to thank Casa De La Luz Hospice Tucson for their wonderful care. Graveside Service will be 11 am, Friday, September 5, 2025, at St. Mary’s (Shaw) Cemetery, Silver Falls Hwy SE, Sublimity, OR 97385.