Friday, Oct. 3, 2008, enveloped in the gentle music and peacefulness of the night with her son at her side, our beautiful mother left us to join our father in the spirit world of the afterlife.
Betty Jean Mason was born March 16, 1927 to Marjorie Raycroft and Leslie S. Greenslade in Hamilton, Ontario. The family left Canada in 1929, moving to Michigan where Betty graduated from Dearborn High School. She attended the prestigious Henry Ford Hospital School of Nursing, earning her RN.
Her nursing career took her from Michigan to San Diego, where on a blind date she met the dashing young Navy chief Stuart James Mason Jr. Stu was smitten with the beautiful young nurse and was determined she would be his bride. Betty married Sept. 9, 1950 and entered a new phase of her life, that of a Navy wife.
Betty raised three children and managed the household as she endured long deployments in the early years of marriage. The family moved many times as Navy orders took them from one base to another. The tour of duty in Spokane at Fairchild Air Force Base brought another challenge. As the wife of the only U.S. Navy Officer, living in military housing, she originally felt isolated and ostracized. Betty did not let that stop her. She joined the Officer’s Wives Club and earned the respect and friendship of the other wives, who eventually declared her an “Honorary Air Force Wife.” Stu’s final tour of duty brought the family back to Whidbey Island in 1963.
Betty returned to nursing after Stu retired in 1967, providing many years of loving care to the residents of San Juan Nursing Home in Anacortes. In addition to nursing, she was now a fisherman’s wife. Not enjoying the separation, Betty decided to join Stu fishing. She endured the three weeks at sea, but her first trip was her last. She decided separation was easier to take! So when conditions brought Stu to port, Betty drove to meet him, traveling to Westport, Astoria, Ilwaco and Newport. The off-seasons found Betty side by side with Stu painting the boat while it was in dry-dock for maintenance.
After her husband’s death in 2004 Betty didn’t flounder. She sold their condominium after 18 years in Anacortes and had a new home built in Oak Harbor. She once said, “It’s crazy, building a new house at my age!” However, Betty loved her new home looking out on the golf course.
Shortly after her 80th birthday, Betty learned she had cancer. She moved ahead with courage as she underwent surgery and chemotherapy. Within weeks, to everyone’s surprise, she was back with the league at the bowling alley, back to her frequent two-mile walks, and back to hosting dinner parties for friends and family.
Betty was an inspiration to all who knew her, always putting the needs and wants of others before her own. She accepted life’s challenges without complaints, worked hard, and always did what was needed. She was loving and generous, disciplined, thrifty, modest, forthright and fair. She never lost her sense of humor and faced her final challenges with the same courage and matter of fact attitude that carried her through life.
Betty is survived by her brother Ron and wife Jeanette Greenslade of Anacortes; brother Alan Greenslade of Ariz.; son Larry and Cynthia Mason; son Stuart and Kim Mason, all of Oak Harbor; daughter April and Ernie Felguth; grandchildren Chris Felguth and Jessamy Felguth Steele; and great grandson Maximillian Steele, all of Salem, Ore. The family will honor her request that no service be held. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Whidbey Hospice Foundation or the cancer foundation
We miss you Mom, loving mother, sister, and friend. Although her soul has departed, we will forever feel her presence through the impact she made in our lives and hearts.
