Birdie DeWitt

Alberta L. "Birdie" DeWitt, 45, died at her Long Beach residence on April 29, 2009 following a battle with cancer. She was born in Okinawa, Japan at the Camp Kue Army Hospital on October 15, 1963. She attended elementary school at George Air Force base in Victorville, California until 1973 when she moved to Long Beach. She completed grade school at Long Beach elementary and graduated from Ilwaco High School. She married Robert "Bob" DeWitt on November 11, 1985 in Long Beach. Bob was stationed at Cape D with the Coast Guard. Following their marriage they lived in Duluth, Minnesota; Alexandria, Virginia; Newport, Oregon and Point Reyes, California while Bob completed his Coast Guard enlistment. Birdie especially enjoyed the traveling aspect of Coast Guard duty and served as ombudsman while living in Point Reyes, CA. After returning to Long Beach, Birdie became kitchen supervisor for Ocean Beach School District. She was a part of the Peninsula Saddle Club for a while and always enjoyed supporting the annual rodeo. Working with and riding her horses were favorite activities was spending time outdoors with family and friends, camping, beachcombing and traveling. Besides her husband, Birdie is survived by sons Justin and Andrew DeWitt of Long Beach; daughter Tonya DeWitt of Long Beach; mother and father Ada and Virgil Byle of Long Beach; grandmother June Kilpatrick of Searchlight, Nevada; sister Sonja Borton of Tacoma; brother Roger Byle of Portland; nieces Danielle Jewett, Becky Little and Karen Sherping; nephews Gran Vandermuellen, Jeff Stolle, Doug Stolle Jr., Michael Sherping and Brian Little; great nephews Thomas Jewett, Benjamin Jewett and Carson Jewett. A celebration of her life will be held at Chico's Pizza Parlor in Seaview at 12 Noon on Saturday, May 9, 2009. Honoring Birdie's love of animals, memorials are suggested to the South Pacific County Humane Society. Her guestbook is available at www.penttilaschapel.com.