Cora Westby
Funeral services were held Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2010, at Valle Lutheran Church, Rolette, for Cora Arvilla Westby, 92, of Rugby, who died Saturday, Jan. 2 at the Heart of America Medical Center.
Burial will be in the spring at the Rolette Cemetery.
Cora was born Sept. 1, 1917, at Overly, a daughter of Thorvald and Ronnaug “Rosie” (Moe) Johnson. She attended grade school and graduated from Overly High School in 1935. She earned a teaching certificate from Minot State Teachers College in 1937. She taught school in South Valley and Wolf Creek Consolidated Schools in Rolette County and the Dunseith Public School. She married Leo Edward Westby on Nov. 21, 1941, in Rolette. They lived on a farm in Wolf Creek Township until moving to Rolette in 1980. They spent 20 winters in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. Leo died Nov. 13, 1998. In 1998, she moved to the Haaland Manor in Rugby.
She was a former member of Willow Creek Lutheran Church in Overly, having taught Sunday School and vacation Bible school. She was a current member of Valle Lutheran Church in Rolette, W.E.L.C.A. Dorcas Circle, Birthday Club, and the North Dakota Retired Teachers Association.
She is survived by a son, Randy, Minot; a daughter-in-law, Linda Westby, Valley City; six grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her parents; a brother, Leonard Johnson; her husband; and a son, Harley Dale.
Rev. John K. Hesford officiated. Music was provided by the congregation, and Margaret Wittmayer, pianist.
Casketbearers were Ryan Westby, Mark Demers, Alexander Rall, Joel Rall, Jonah Rall, and Joshua Rall.
Arrangements by Niewoehner Funeral Home, Rugby.