Elizabeth Ann Chiapusio

GIG HARBOR, Wash. - Elizabeth "Bette Ann" Chiapusio (née Jarrell), 71, passed away in Gig Harbor on July 22, 2017, after a very courageous eight-month battle with brain cancer.

Bette was born on Oct. 7, 1945, in Dover, Del., and at a young age, she moved to Ironwood, Mich., where she was raised by her maternal grandmother, Anna Sophia Perhalla.

Bette graduated from Luther L. Wright High School and Gogebic Community College, both in Ironwood, and then attended the University of Wisconsin, where she met her future husband, Rod.

She moved her family more than a dozen times to various locations around the country as well as Japan as an U.S. Air Force officer's wife, and yet she still somehow found the time to teach English to Japanese students, manage several base thrift shops, work as a hospice volunteer and raise two wonderful children.

She is survived by her husband of 51 years, Rod, of Gig Harbor and formerly of Pence, Wis .; her son, Rod Andrew and daughter-in-law, Candace, of Littleton, Colo .; daughter, Stephanie, of DuPont, Wash .; and her two beloved Siberian cats, Pratt and Whitney.

She was a member of the congregation of St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Gig Harbor.

A private memorial service will be held by her family at a later date. She was a wonderfully loving wife and mother, and her passing leaves a hole in the heart of everyone who knew her. She will be greatly missed.