Mary Elizabeth (Betsy) Wilson Woolpert has died at the age of 82 years. Surrounded by family members, they report that she died peacefully at her home in Watsonville, CA on Wednesday, April 1, 2009. For most of the last decade, she had been living with emphysema and cancer.
Although born in San Francisco on May 5, 1926, Betsy had been a resident of Watsonville, CA for her entire life. Her parents, Arthur Roberts Wilson and Anna Rhea Weiss Wilson were also residents of Watsonville, CA. Betsy and her sister Ruth (aka Foofie) attended Mintie White, E.A. Hall, and Watsonville High School. Thereafter, she earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Social Sciences, with a focus on business and accounting, at Stanford University in 1948. It was at Stanford where Betsy met, dated, and in 1949 married her Resident Assistant Civil Engineering Professor, Bruce Gideon Woolpert.
Once graduated from Stanford University and married, Betsy returned to Watsonville where she and her husband quickly assumed roles in her family’s mining business, the Granite Rock Company. The Granite Rock Company had been founded on February 14, 1900 by her father, Arthur Roberts Wilson. After its founding, he grew the mining company to include Granite Construction Company and Central Supply Company. When he died in 1929, Betsy’s mother Anna Rhea Weiss Wilson assumed the role as the Owner/President of the family businesses. Granite Construction Company was sold by Betsy’s mother in 1936, and the two Watsonville-based “Granite” companies remain under separate ownership today. In addition to accepting the reins from her mother in the running of Granite Rock Company in 1952, Betsy had two children, Bruce Wilson Woolpert in 1951, and Stephen (Steve) Gideon Woolpert in 1953.
From the 1950’s onward, Betsy was very active raising her two sons, all the while alternating with her husband in the role of running the ever-growing and expanding Granite Rock Company. Always exhibiting a very special caring attitude for the employees of Granite Rock Company, she formally served as Granite Rock’s President from 1952 to 1958, its Human Resources Director from 1972 to 1980, and again its President and its CEO from 1980 until her retirement on January 1, 1987. Her sons, Steve and Bruce, then became the Company’s Co-Presidents.
In addition to her family and career, Betsy was very active in her community. Her activities started with the Watsonville Co-operative Nursery School, then being a Cub Scout Den Mother, and an officer of the Parent Teachers Association at both T. S. MacQuiddy School and then at E.A. Hall School. She was a Girl Scout Brownies Den Mother.
Many people remember Betsy for one of her most recent and tangible efforts when, following the Loma Prieta Earthquake in 1989 that rendered the community’s hospital building unsuitable, she rolled up her sleeves and joined in with a number of other community-minded people to take on the task of retaining a full-service hospital in Watsonville’s Pajaro Valley. In that effort she served on the Board and Chaired the Watsonville Community Hospital. Once the old hospital building was sold, she served on the Board of the Pajaro Valley Community Health Trust to see that a replacement building for the Community’s hospital would be developed. Successful, the new hospital, located adjacent to Watsonville’s airport, is open for business today, thanks in part to those dedicated Boards of Directors and community support.
Betsy served on the Boards and/or provided financial support to many community-serving organizations. They include: Santa Cruz Cultural Council, Santa Cruz Community Foundation, Watsonville’s United Presbyterian Church, U.C. Santa Cruz Foundation, Defensa de Mujeres, Woolpert Family Foundation, Watsonville’s YMCA, Carmel Valley Manor, Loaves and Fishes, and Sunny Meadows Apartments. Betsy was also a founding member of the prestigious national business women’s organization named the Committee of 200.
Betsy never rest on her heels. She traveled extensively throughout the world over the last 6 decades, where she aggressively sought and found opportunities to observe, learn about, and appreciate the differences in the world’s various cultures.
Betsy had been an avid back packer all of her life, and was able to put a notch on her hiking boots, when at 60 years old, she successfully completed a continuous 6-week backpacking trip over the extent of the John Muir Trail. This experience, a 210 mile, sometimes grueling, mountainous hike, stretches from Yosemite to the top of the 14,495′ high Mt. Whitney.
She is survived by her sons Stephen (Steve) Gideon Woolpert of Carmel Valley, CA and Bruce Wilson Woolpert and his spouse Rose Ann of Santa Clara, CA, her grandchildren Marianne Woolpert of Cupertino, Arthur Woolpert of Cupertino, Jessica Belo and her spouse Sandra of San Jose, Melissa Woolpert of Carmel Valley, and Joe Woolpert of Carmel Valley. Great Grandchildren: Stacey South of San Jose, and Sean South of San Jose. Nieces: Rebecca Carter of Summit, NJ. , Eva Carter Salas of Redwood City, CA. , Janet Carter Boggs of Gilroy, CA, Barbara Woolpert Druzsba of Redondo Beach, Carole Woolpert Griffis of Huntington Beach, CA., Nephews: Duke Woolpert of Cerritos, CA, and Kelly Woolpert of Cypress, CA.
Predeceasing Betsy was her father Arthur Roberts Wilson in 1929, her mother Anna Rhea Weiss Wilson in 1959, her sister Ruth (Foofie) Wilson Carter in 1985, and her husband Bruce Gideon Woolpert in 2004.
Betsy’s family invites her friends to join in the Celebration of Betsy’s Life. The Funeral Home in charge of arrangements is Mehl’s Colonial Chapel, (831) 724-6371. On Friday evening, April 10, 2009, between the hours of 4PM and 8PM, Visitation and viewing of Betsy’s remains will be held at Mehl’s Colonial Chapel, 222 East Lake Avenue, Watsonville, CA (831) 724-6371. On Saturday, April 11, 2009, at 1:00 PM a Memorial Service, followed by a Reception, will be held at the United Presbyterian Church, 112 East Beach Street, Watsonville, CA, (831) 724-4737.
We remember Betsy for her outwardly caring for her family, and her extended family of Granite Rock Company employees, its customers, her community’s residents, and the home she called Earth.
