Elizabeth "Bette" Ann Chiapusio

Elizabeth (“Bette Ann”) Chiapusio passed away at St. Anthony’s Hospital in Gig Harbor on July 22, 2017 at the age of 71 after a very courageous eight-month battle with brain cancer. Bette was born on October 7, 1945 in Dover, Delaware and at a young age, she moved to Ironwood, Michigan where she was raised by her maternal grandmother, Anna Sophia Perhalla.  Bette graduated from Luther L. Wright High School and Gogebic Community College 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 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, her son Rod Andrew and daughter-in-law Candace of Littleton, Colorado, daughter Stephanie of DuPont, Washington 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.

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