Bea Ostrander
Heaven gained a sweet angel! Bea was born in Stroud OK as the middle child of 8. They headed west for a better life and 2 years later they arrived in Ventura where the family put down roots. Bea graduated high school and Junior College there before attending SDSU on scholarship. Bea started skiing at 13, mostly at Mammoth in its early days and finally hung up her skis at 70. She was quite the daredevil and loved long runs from top to bottom. Amazingly, she was only injured once at 19 while training for a race. That one injury resulted in a severely broken leg requiring a 5 hr drive to the hospital, multiple screws and a long recovery. Skiing took her to Timberline Lodge as one of the first employees. She was the Lodge Administrator living on the third floor. She skied out her window only once as her ski pants didn’t survive that adventure. She was fortunate to ski with the Austrian Women’s Olympic Ski Team coach who ran Timberline’s Ski School. She was the first ski patrolwoman there and a member of the mountain ice climbing rescue team. Wanderlust then took her to Oahu for 6 months via the luxurious SS Lurline. She returned to Ventura after exploring all Oahu had to offer. Upon returning, she met her husband of 60 years, Jack, skiing at Mammoth. Jack wanted to ski like her so he followed her down the mountain all weekend….
They married in 1958, built a home in Montecito and had 2 daughters. Bea fondly remembers family trips to ski resorts all over visiting friends including an epic adventure to St. Anton, Austria. Christmas Day skiing became the tradition. They bought a townhome in Mammoth and spent countless days skiing with family and friends both old and new. When they weren’t skiing, it was tennis at Knowlwood Tennis Club. Thursday nights were spent at Twilight Tennis followed by dinner at Café Del Sol with friends. Many friendships formed at Knowlwood and it was an integral part of her and Jack’s social life. Bea was a dedicated mom. She was a Room Mother for many years and baked an innumerable amount of sweets for those lucky classes. She was the consummate chauffeur driving to afterschool activities on a daily basis. She attended every swim meet, tennis tournament and other events cheering on her girls and their teammates. Bea was an accomplished seamstress and channeled her talents into beautiful school and party dresses for the girls even when they were in college.
She was also a volunteer and ingrained that ethic into both girls. She drove for Meals on Wheels for many years, loved being a docent at the Courthouse, was involved with NCL for 9 years and more than that in PTA. She was also a deacon at El Montecito Pres for many years.
Family was everything to Bea. She was very close to her siblings and her life revolved around her children, then her grandsons and recently her great grandchildren. Her love language was baking; snickerdoodles and apple pies being her signature desserts. She was happiest when she was with her family.
She loved flowers, especially roses. She was blessed to live for 6 months at Rose Story Farm. The Hahns welcomed her into their family while she was waiting to move to The Sanmarkand. Her last six months she lived in a beautiful apartment at Sanmarkand. She made so many wonderful friends there in her short time.
Bea is survived by her daughters Susie Ostrander, Sally Martyniuk (Paul), grandchildren Hunter Becker, Andy Becker (Macauley), great grandchildren Easten and Dixon Becker, sisters Joyce Kelley, Jeannine Swift, brothers Danny Jordan (Donna) and Hoyle Jordan (Ella Mae) and a huge extended family of nephews, nieces, their spouses and children.
A Celebration of Life will be on March 16, 2024 at El Montecito Presbyterian Church at 1pm. Happy Easter/Spring attire and attitude requested. A party to celebrate Bea’s life will be at Sally’s house. Please email sallyinsb@cox.net. for details and directions.