Betty June Reece White, who lived in La Conner for many years, died on Saturday, April 16, at age 94 in Beaverton, Oregon, where she moved 10 years ago to be near her sons.
Betty was born September 17, 1921 in Fresno, California, where she grew up and graduated from Fresno High School with the Class of 1939.
She married the late Ralph Petty, Sr. and was a homemaker, raising her family of two sons, Ralph, Jr. and Randy, in Fresno, where she was active in PTA and St. James Episcopal Cathedral. She later remarried the late J. Louis White in 1967 and together they made their home on Fidalgo Island outside of La Conner.
Betty worked for years at the local La Conner bank that is now Anelia’s Kitchen & Stage, and Lou owned a private accounting service in Mount Vernon.
Betty was active in the La Conner community and local organizations that included the La Conner Garden Club, where she was past president; the Mount Vernon Chapter of the Eastern Star; the La Conner Rotary Club and the Billiken Club of La Conner.
Following Lou’s death in 2000, Betty sold her Fidalgo Island home in 2006 to live closer to her sons, first living in Mill Creek for 5 years, followed by the past four years in Beaverton, Oregon. Betty loved the Fresno-San Joaquin Valley area and the beauty and charm of the greater LaConner area and made many close, lifelong friends in both communities.
In addition to her husband Lou, Betty was preceded in death by her father, Herman Reece of Fresno, her mother Gladys Cleo Swanson of La Conner, and her sister, Barbara Lois Andreoni, of Fresno.
She is survived by her two sons Ralph Petty, Jr. (Joan Hampton) of Beaverton, and Randy Petty (Tai Le) of Mill Creek; and a stepson, Pieter White (Alice Honner White) of Southborough, Massachusetts; a sister, Mae Gordon of Fresno; a half-sister, Lynn Pell of Fresno; and many nieces and nephews.
A graveside service is scheduled at 1 p.m. Wednesday, May 11, at Hawthorne Memorial Park, 1825 East College Way, Mount Vernon.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be sent in memory of Betty June White to the charity of your choice.
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