Homemaker, telephone shift operator, accounting assistant, gardener, ballroom dancer, pie maker, beloved sister, wife, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother, Betty passed away peacefully on December 3, 2021.
Betty was born in El Reno, Oklahoma on June 26, 1924 to Sydney and Myrtle Beard. Mom, Dad, big brother Jack, little sisters, Jeanette and Louise with Betty trekked across country in a Ford Model T. They enjoyed being with family and new friends in Yakima and stayed.
Betty Beard married Jack Kerby over Labor Day weekend in 1950. She became a telephone shift operator at Bell Telephone Company in Sunnyside where she enjoyed being an operator and training new employees.
Betty and Jack planted a Concord grape vineyard starting in 1973 and it continues to thrive today. They relaxed looking at the view of growing crops, Mt. Adams, and sometimes Mt. Rainer in the distance. Betty adapted to life on the farm in Sunnyside, but her heart was always in Yakima. Her dream to return to Yakima came in 1992 with the building and landscaping of a home in Terrace Heights. She had always enjoyed gardening but now she had the time to envision and execute how she wanted her garden to grow with succulents, roses, snapdragons, tulips, irises, geraniums, shrubs, and flowering trees. The smell of blueberry or apple pie baking greeted you at the front door along with Betty’s smile.
Betty is survived by her son, Curtis Kerby; grandsons, Jesse (Briean) and John Kerby; her great-grandsons; her daughter, Kathleen Hutchinson (Mark) of Oakland, CA; granddaughters, Erin and Kelly Hutchinson; her sister in law, Roberta Kerby, Bend, Oregon, and many nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her husband, Jack; her son, Stephen; sisters, Louise Meek and Jeanette MacLeod; brother, Jack Beard; her great nephew Devin Weaver; and her niece, Cinde McCay.
Betty’s smile and her love of life will be missed. A celebration of life will be held at Keith and Keith Funeral Home on Monday, July 11, 2022 at 1:00. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Yakima Harman Senior Center.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.keithandkeith.com for the Kerby family.
