Betty Sass, 87, of Ocala, passed away January 13, 2020 at Legacy House (Hospice Care). She was born on September 7, 1932 in Miami, Florida to James and Alice Westberry. She grew up in Miami and attended Coconut Grove Elementary and Junior High School and graduated from Ponce de Leon High School.
She was active in her church and was a member of a singing group, ‘The Harmony Quintet.’ They performed at different churches in the Miami are as well as in the Northeast and Midwest of the United States. She was employed as a Service Representative for the Southern Bell Telephone Company in Coral Gables, Florida for 10 years.
She met her future husband when he was home on leave from the military. They were married in 1962 and his assignment took them to Washington, DC. Betty then transferred to Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company after her marriage. Later assignments took her to Ft. Lewis, Washington and Ft. Rucker, Alabama. Betty loved to travel and her husband’s business provided many visits to Europe, Hawaii, and South America. Upon retirement from Federal Service in 1991 they moved to Panama City Beach, Florida where she enjoyed many happy days being on the water. They moved to Ocala in 2007 to be near their children.
Betty is survived by her husband, Fred, of 57 years; daughters, Kristina Wallis and her husband, Jeff, Valdosta, Georgia, and Renee Rasmussen and her husband, Shawn, of Lithia, Florida. She has three grandchildren, T.J. Wallis and his wife, Molly, of Savannah., GA, Jackson Rasmussen and Zoe Rasmussen, Lithia, Florida. She is also survived by two great grand-children, Finley Kate and Liam Benjamin Wallis of Savannah, GA. She is also survived by her younger sister, Nancy Vickers and her husband, Clay of Hudson, Florida; and several nieces and nephews.
Her sister, Leila Bowling, and her husband, Gilbert, from McKinney, Texas preceded her in death.
Betty was a friend of many and much loved by her family. She will be missed.
A memorial service will be held on January 21, 2020 at Roberts Funeral Home on Highway 200 at 1 pm. Interment will be later at the Florida Military Cemetery at Bushnell, Florida.