Life Changes

Betty Jane Mustard McNeill, born Apri 13, 1922, died January 2011, beloved wife of William E. McNeill, 2nd daughter of Laurence T. Mustard and Evangeline Ruth Wattenburg, mother of Terry, Michael and Margaret, bringer of laughter and games and decor into dreary places and hearts.......you will be a light to loved ones gone on before. I have no doubt that she has joined in the eternal pinochle game with dad and Thelma and others.

Mom lived a life of serving others, at work and within the family. She would forego things for herself in order to take care of her kids, her husband and others whom she loved. After working 9 hours a day, from 6 to 3 at the local mental hospital she'd come home and fix dinner, nudge us about our homework, help with projects like science fair, encourage growth of new skills or what ever was the passion of the moment.

Mom had studied nursing during World War 2 but then had to earn money to support herself as dad was in the merchant marine, which didn't pay much at all. Seems like she was always working, whether we lived in town or on a farm somewhere.

When she was injured at work in 1959 or so, she finally went off on disability. Her treatment was to sit for hours each day in a traction devise that held her straight in a chair. With forced inactivity she began to sketch and then to paint again, a skill she'd begun in high school. She watched the art classes on TV that showed early in the mornings. She borrowed and later bought books to learn techniques of painting, mostly landscapes. She attempted portraits and still lifes as well, but enjoyed painting the world around her, whether at the cabin in the hills west of Ukiah, on the Trinity River or in the deserts of Arizona.

She lost her mother when she was 42 years old and lived longer than her older sister.

Her love of people, willingness to serve others live on in each of her 3 children. The youngest, Terry, has been in the nursing field her entire life, in spite of chronic pain and disability; working first at Sonoma Developmental Center and then taking care of our aging parents full time. The second born, a son, trained, worked and taught in law enforcement until his medical retirement, when he discovered the joy of cooking for the Elks and entered community service in a very different way from catching criminals. The oldest was a social worker for over 30 years, then retired to Africa.