Ethel Rose Lewis

Ethel Rose Lewis was born in Bellflower, California to Frank Broersma and Susan Lanting on September 22, 1927. She had four siblings, Ben, Agnes, Susan and Mary.

Her parents were born in Friesland, a province of the Netherlands, and moved to the United States before she was born. Ethel was proud of her Frisian heritage and often spoke the language with her siblings. Her sisters Susan, Mary and herself called each other "The Three Famkes." She was called "Beppe" by some of her grandchildren.

Ethel grew up on a dairy and loved animals of all kinds, especially cows and cats. "Cats are like potato chips, it's hard to have just one!" hung up in her house.

She went to school at Compton Junior College and later graduated from Chaffey College in 1987. Ethel's first job was at a phone company. She had five children, Carol, Will, Ann, Dan and Steve. The family lived in Paso Robles, Norwalk and eventually Chino, where she raised her children and spent the last 50 years of her life. She once said of Chino: "I love the dairy smell: it smells like home."

Her first five grandchildren were all girls born on a Sunday. When the sixth one was born on a Tuesday, she was not surprised he was a boy. She ended up having seven grandchildren, Belinda, Hollie, Lily, Amanda, Adriana, Angie and Aaron, as well as three great-grandchildren, Joshua, Mckenna and Cassidy, and two great-great grandchildren, Hudson and Ivy.

Ethel loved books and reading and worked as a Library Assistant for decades before she retired in 1997. She loved traveling. In the 1970s, she visited Europe for the first time and made a special trip to the Netherlands with her siblings. She also visited all 50 states of the United States on her many road trips through the years.

Ethel spent her retirement years active, always tending to her garden, taking care of cats and continuing to travel the country. Gatherings for the holidays became tradition at her house and she enjoyed time with her children and their families. Ethel's love for her children and grandchildren were the joys of her life.