Betty Lou Westrom

September 15, 1939 - March 15, 2022

Betty Lou Westrom (n�e Sciarello), age 82 of Staten Island, passed away peacefully in her sleep on the morning of March 15, 2022. Loving wife, and dearly loved mother and grandmother, Betty was born in 1939 in Brooklyn, New York to Leo Sciarello and Helen Hendricks. Betty Lou graduated from Bay Ridge High School in 1956, and while in college she met and married Gerald Westrom in 1960. Betty Lou loved spring flowers � lilacs, forsythia, & dogwood were among her favorites and she kept a spare scissor in the glove box to enlist her children in snipping wild blooms from the side of the road. Her instructions were specific � shake them well - she wanted blooms not bugs. She loved visiting gardens (and kept a picture of Versailles in her bedroom) flowers in general, and gardening- as long as it came with a gardener or a kind husband with a green thumb. She made the holidays special for her children and grandchildren. For over 30 years there was a child under 5 at the Westrom house � the sheer awe of Christmas morning is a shared and precious memory for two generations. She loved baking almost from birth, spending her free time as a young girl baking in the basement kitchen of her mother's house. We all have our favorite baked goods that family celebrations feel incomplete without. Her cookie jar was the first stop when you went home and it was always full. Birthdays had themes and color coordinated paper trimmings and special cakes. A wonderful cook and baker, a competitive cheesecake maker, she loved to cook for and with her family. Betty Lou loved to travel and hated to fly. But when she had the chance to join her daughter in Europe she found the courage to fly alone. In her own words, she wanted the experience with her daughter. She loved Italy, its art, history, churches, food and the connection to her ancestors. She always lit a candle for her own mother when entering a church. She kept a long list of all the different countries, cities, and towns she had visited, always with her in her purse. It was fair to say she had many places she still wanted to see. Betty Lou was a very light sleeper and spent the wee hours of the morning reading the latest bestsellers. She would call in the evening to tell you to look out your window to share a beautiful sunset with her. She pointed out trains, planes and wildlife to her children and grandchildren faithfully, with Betty there was always something to see. She made friends easily with her kindness and sincerity. She was always genuinely curious about other people, wanting to know about their lives. Whether it was while she was working in the doctor�s office, traveling or just going about her daily errands. She knew your name and picked up the conversation without missing a beat. She was deeply loved by her children, grandchildren, extended family and friends, and she will be missed, and remembered by all who knew her. Betty Lou was predeceased by her beloved husband of 62 years, Gerald, in February of this year. She is survived by her daughters, Denise, Elizabeth and Lauren, her sons, Robert and Glenn, and her five grandchildren. The family will receive friends from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 17, 2022, at the John Vincent Scalia Home For Funerals, Inc., 28 Eltingville Blvd. (at Eltingville Station), Staten Island, New York. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:45 a.m. on Friday, March 18, 2022 at St. Margaret Church located at 6605 79th Pl. Middle Village, New York 11379. Interment will follow in St. John's Cemetery, Middle Village, NY. Donations in her honor can made to St. Jude Children�s Research Hospital, https://www.stjude.org.