Wavel Pauline Westerberg Beckstead

Our amazing mom, Wavel Pauline Westerberg Beckstead, passed away at her home in Whitney, Idaho, on January 9, 2025.

Pauline was born in Preston, Idaho, on April 1, 1931, to Wavel Eulalia Wilde and Melvin Alfred Westerberg. She and her sister, Betty Ruth Condie, grew up on a poultry farm in Preston, Idaho, and learned the value of working hard and of being self-sufficient. 

After graduating from Preston High School, Mom went to college at the University of Idaho and graduated in education. She married David Woolley Beckstead on June 16, 1952, in the Logan Utah Temple. Our parents spent their early married lives in Moscow, Idaho, while Dad attended veterinary science school at Washington State University. After graduation, they eventually settled in Whitney, Idaho, where Mom continued to support Dad as he worked as a veterinarian.

Pauline and David had eight children that they raised on David’s family farm in Whitney. Pauline worked hard to help support her family. She was an excellent seamstress; she baked whole wheat bread and made her famous rice pudding almost every day. She and her mother spent hours canning produce at the Franklin County cannery. She also learned to rake and bale hay, milk cows, and feed “bum” calves on the bottle. She loved music and played the piano and made sure all her children took music lessons. She loved flowers and tended gorgeous planters and hanging baskets during the summer.

When her youngest son, Alan, began his elementary schooling, Mom dusted off her teaching certificate and began a long career as a teacher in the Preston school system. She loved her associations there with the administrators and her fellow teachers. She loved her students and was always interested in their welfare and their lives.

Mom was a lifelong learner. She took classes at Idaho State University and at Utah State towards her master’s degree. She was passionate about reading and read books, magazines, and newspapers voraciously until the morning she died. Current events and sports were her specialties, and she loved discussing these things with her children and friends.

Her compassion and generosity knew no bounds. She never met a stray cat or a stray person that she didn’t try to help. At one time she was feeding forty-one cats on her farm! She loved her two housecats and made sure their lives were perfect.

Mom was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served in many callings. Teaching the Gospel Doctrine class in the Whitney Ward was always one of her favorite callings. When she became more homebound, she watched Music and the Spoken Word and Come Follow Up every Sunday on KBYU and loved to discuss the things she learned with her daughter, Kaye. Mom had many wonderful ministering sisters who visited her. Marilyn Turner, her current one, kept her feeling connected to the people and activities in the ward.

During the last seven years of her life after the passing of her husband, Mom continued, with the help of her sons and daughters and a good family friend, Mike Vroman, to supervise and manage the Beckstead farm and ranch. Although her children tried to make her relinquish some of the responsibilities and take a well-deserved rest, she refused to do so. The week before she passed away was spent with her daughter, Shirley, preparing the 2024 taxes for her farm.

Our mom was a remarkable woman, a Renaissance woman even. She lived for nearly a century and was always cheerful and optimistic. One of her favorite quotes was “Death is but a comma, not a period.” We will miss her so much as she begins this new chapter of her life, but we treasure our earthly memories of her and will look forward to being with her again. Thank you, Mom, for blessing our lives with your amazing example of resilience, grace and love.

Mom is survived by seven children, Kelly Kristine Olsen (Fredrick), Katherine Anne Leslie (Robert), Dr. David B. Beckstead (Alexis Champneys), Ellen Kaye Hart (Lynn), Jed W Beckstead, Shirley W Maughan, (Peter), and Alan Mel Beckstead (Barbara Elliot), 26 grandchildren, and 71 great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by a son, John W. Beckstead, a son-in-law, John Telle Cannon, a granddaughter, Whitney Christensen, and two grandsons, Wesley Beckstead and Jed Christian Olsen. Her parents and sister also preceded her in death. 

At Mom’s request, a private family service will be held with interment in the Whitney cemetery.

We thank Webb Mortuary for their kindness and compassion during this time in our lives, and we thank all of Mom’s many friends for their impact on her life.