Obituary for Georgia Westervelt
Amherst Bulletin [Amherst, Mass] Dec 10 2021, P. A2, Cols 1-2, with photo
"AMHERST, MA — Georgia Westervelt died on Thanksgiving morning, [Nov 25] 2021, at the age of 95.
She was born in September 1926 in Ithaca, New York, daughter of Georgianna Root and Walter E. Westervelt. She was the oldest of four and outlived her sister June George, and her brothers Ralph and William Westervelt. Her longevity may be the result of her lifelong commitment to yoga.
She graduated from Ithaca High School and from Cornell University with a BS in Sociology, and received a Master's degree in Social Work from Case Western Reserve in 1954. She worked in many settings: community and medical centers, schools, and mental health clinics. After she retired at age 65, she opened a private practice.
Georgia was an enthusiastic traveler and made friends everywhere she went, around the country and the world. Once, throwing caution to the wind at 40 years old, she quit her job and traveled for six weeks in Europe, not knowing what she would come back to. Georgia lived in Cedar Rapids, Cleveland, upstate New York, Denver, and Boston. She spent her final years in Amherst.
Georgia met her husband, Oiva Anderson, at a folk dance weekend in May 1979, and she became part of his large, loving family.
No discussion of Georgia would be complete without including her love of books; she continued to be an avid reader all her life, even after her vision was compromised and she had to listen to recorded books.
She deeply loved music, and especially singing—not just the choruses she sang with everywhere she lived, but the fact that, if someone said something that reminded her of a song, she would regale you with it. She was invariably on pitch, and her harmonies were perfect.
Intellectually and politically, she was always on the side of justice and compassion for the vulnerable or oppressed. She instilled in those of us left behind a sense of the necessity of action for the greater good and for the peaceable end to all international conflict. All who knew her are forever grateful for her influence."