Ethel West

Ethel B. West, age 93, of Port Charlotte , FL , formerly of Belmont and Madison , WI , died Friday, November 25, 2011, at Mercy Hospital and Trauma Center in  Janesville , WI . Ethel was born  on July 6, 1918, in Belmont , WI , to Justus and Lizzie Anna Margaret (Reichers) Bockhop. Ethel graduated from Belmont High School in 1935 and received a Bachelor's degree in Education from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. Ethel then began her teaching career at the Cottage Inn school, a one room school house in Belmont , WI . At the start of World War II, Ethel briefly left teaching to aid the war effort by instructing servicemen in International Morse Code at the Scott Air Base in Illinois . Following the end of the war, Ethel taught Special Education for 32 years until her retirement in 1977 from the Monona Grove School District . Ethel married Walter W. West on March 16, 1946 in Madison , WI and they later retired to Port Charlotte , FL where she volunteered her time to the Women of Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Association of University Women and the Friends of the Library.

Ethel is survived by her daughter, Luana (Manuel) Juarez of Orfordville, WI; her grandchildren, Brian (Tina) Juarez of  Fort Atkinson, WI, Sara (Ben) Koch ofJanesville, WI; and her great grandchildren, Andrew Juarez, Joshua Juarez and Isabelle Koch.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Walter in 1985; her parents, Justus and Lizzie; her brother, Harold; and her sister, Lucille.

Funeral Services were held at 1 pm on Tuesday, November 29, 2011, at Martin Schwartz Funeral Home in  Platteville, with Pastor Connie Matye officiating. Visitation was held from 11 am to 1 pm prior to the service on Tuesday at the funeral home. Burial will be in Belmont Cemetery . In lieu of other expressions of sympathy, memorials may be made in loving memory of Ethel to the American Heart Association or the Diabetes Research Association.