Betty Jean Rosemeyer was born in Seattle on May 21, 1921 to Timothy McCarthy and Helen Mangan McCarthy. She passed away on Monday, March 30, 2009.

Betty is survived by her children Larry Rosemeyer, Leslee Shanahan and Linda Whitehead along with six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband Charles Rosemeyer in 1967, her brother Jack McCarthy and her first grandchild Kevin Shanahan.

She was raised in the Wallingford district of Seattle and in Blessed Sacrament Parish, and attended Lincoln High School and Seattle University.

She met her husband Charles (Chuck) Rosemeyer through mutual friends during Word War II. They were married on Feb. 19, 1944, settled into a small house on Fauntleroy in West Seattle and started a family while Chuck worked at Boeing as a machinist.

They eventually moved to Freeland on Whidbey Island in early 1946 where Chuck started his cabinet making business. He later founded BJ Boat Company, named after “Betty Jean.”

Betty was active in the PTA on South Whidbey for 22 years, she was a founding member of the Mardi Club of Ryther Child Center and was a member of the local American Legion. She and Chuck were also early members of the Holmes Harbor Rod & Gun Club.

The family is very grateful for the great care that she received at Whidbey General Hospital and Careage in Coupeville. Her final days and hours were made comfortable and peaceful by the wonderful nurses and staff on the eighth floor, southwest wing at Swedish Hospital. They have our respect and gratitude!

A funeral mass will be held at

12:30 p.m. Saturday, April 4 at

St. Hubert Catholic Church in Langley with a reception following the service and burial at Bayview Cemetery.

Funeral arrangements are through Visser Funeral Home, Langley.