Elizabeth Ann "Betty" Lewis

Elizabeth Ann “Betty” Lewis, 93, a resident of the Verboort/Forest Grove community passed away at sunrise on Sunday morning, October, 11, 2026 at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland.

Betty was born to Harold and Lucillle Van Dyke on May 16, 1933, the first of two daughters. She attended Visitation School and graduated with the class of 1951. She met her husband, Melvin "Gene" Lewis through her cousin, Richard VanDyke. Betty and Gene exchanged letters during their courtship while he was in Corvallis at college and she was working at First Interstate Bank in Forest Grove. They were married on May 4, 1954, and lived in a rental house near Gene's family farm in the Kansas City for the first year of their marriage.

They settled on the on the VanDyke family farm where they raised a family, and worked on the farm and family business, "VanDyke Seed". She was preceded in death by her husband in 2014, just shy of their 60th Wedding Anniversary. She lived on the family farm for her whole life--except for the that first year she was married.

Her hobbies were mostly centered around family, and through her children and grandchildren, passed on her love of the fishing, camping, crabbing, clam digging, canning, freezing, preserving food, knitting, crocheting, embroidery, quilting, baking cookies and pies, traveling, and playing cards. She supported her kids in their hobbies of raising dogs, photography, trap shooting, knitting. She served as a 4-H Leader for 13 years, extending her knowledge to other children in the community. She shared her love of painting and firing ceramics with her family and friends. In her later years she completed many quilts with the help of talented friends. She gifted and donated many of these collaborations to friends, family, and charity.

Betty was musically gifted and from an early age she played piano and the accordion to entertain guests and family at parties and gatherings in her parents' basement. At age 16 she began playing for weddings and funerals for not only her own community, but for many, many, other Catholic Churches in the area. She taught music for six years at Visitation Catholic School, and played the organ for the youth Christmas Choir. Like all the members of her community, she volunteered at the Annual Verboort Sausage Dinner--she never missed it in 75 consecutive years before she retired at age 80.

Gene and Betty traveled with their RV as far as San Diego, Montana and Victoria, B.C. to attend their children's dog shows. They attended all kinds of concerts, plays and sporting events of their children and children. Their six grandchildren graduated from six different high schools in three different states--and they attended every one of them. Twice, Gene and Betty drove to Alaska for family fishing adventures, and drove their motorhome cross country and back to tour the east coast.

Betty worked side-by-side with her husband on the family farm and family business. When VanDyke Seed expanded to include the North Plains location, she served as bookkeeper. Most of all, she enjoyed visiting with all of the farmers, customers and employees.

In her retirement she discovered a new passion. Always an avid scrapbooker, she created more than 40 volumes from the photos and mementos of her family. Inspired by the genealogy books published by Father Scott, she grew a passion for genealogical history which eventually lead her working to enhance the Visitation Cemetery's Website. Her work on the website included the research and collection of familial artifacts to add biographical data and photos from all corners of the community into the Cemetery's directory.

Betty was a life-long fan of baseball, and fondly recalled watching her Dad play for the Portland Beavers. She would often act as a scorekeeper for her son's baseball, daughters' softball teams, and her grandchildren's games whenever she could attend. During Oregon State Beavers baseball season, you could be sure that the game would always be playing while she sat in her favorite chair with a crafting project in hand, season after season. She and her sister shared their love of the game right until the very end.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Melvin “Gene” Lewis, and daughter, Vickie Lewis.

She is survived by three children; Laurie (Lloyd) Smith, Terry (Lena) Lewis, and Jill (Sydney) Lovely; her six grandchildren; Crystal Smith, Greg (Bonnie) Smith, Jacob Lewis, Hailey (Dalton) Berg, Rachael Lovely, and Kirstin Lovely; and three great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her sister, Barbara Jean Peschka.

We invite you to share your memories and photos of Betty on her memorial page.