Married to her loving husband, William “Bill” Postill, since 1959, Betty passed away peacefully in The Pines nursing home in Burns Lake on March 2. The couple built what was at first a holiday cabin in Takysie Lake nearly 30 years ago and moved there permanently.
Born Bertha Adeline Anhorn in Walla Walla, Washington, Betty and her family became Canadians during the Great Depression, when they moved to southern Alberta to homestead. Her father’s early death necessitated Betty leaving school at 15 to work as a maid and later a waitress to help support her mother, Anna Margaret Anhorn (deceased) and her younger brothers, Bud, Ray and Johnny (all deceased). During World War II, while working in Calgary, Betty married Wilfred Poulton (deceased), with whom she had two daughters: Terry Poulton of Toronto, and Bonnie Cox, who died in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2001. Betty and Bill adopted three children, twins, Louise Poirier of Ajax Ontario, Linda Noronha of Calgary and Scott Postill of Calgary. Betty became a dedicated, admired and highly professional craftswoman who first pursued ceramics and moved on to quilting and weaving, both of which she taught to others while maintaining a crafts shop in Olds, Alberta, called Bitsa and, later, a studio and business in Takysie called Woolgathering.
In her later years, when Alzheimer’s was taking a sad toll, Betty still managed to crochet hats for newborns and lap blankets for seniors, which she donated to charities, some of which distributed them around the world.
Betty will be much missed not only by her husband and children but also by her surviving brother, Mike Anhorn and his wife Joyce of St. Albert, Alberta, and her grandchildren: Laura Wilson (Frank) in El Paso, Texas; Robert (Allison) Paauw in Louisville, Ky, Leslie Cox; Elise, Brittany and Nathan Poirier in Ontario, Trish Postill, daughter-in-law in Vancouver, and Emma and Sadie Postill in Vancouver; her great grandsons, Troy, Tayler and Michael Paauw; her son-in-law Mark Poirier in Ontario; Angelo Noronha, son-in-law in Calgary and her remarkable friends, Mary and Fred Gruen in Takysie.
Interment will be in southern Alberta, where a memorial service is being planned. There will be a service at Takysie Lake Resort, March 10 at 2pm.