Joseph "Joe" Westby

Joseph Westby, 77, Bismarck, passed away January 7, 2015, at Sanford Health, Bismarck. Services will be held at 11:00 am Monday, January 12, 2015, at Trinity Lutheran Church, Bismarck, with Rev. Steve Sathre officiating. Burial will be held at Fairview Cemetery, Bismarck. Visitation will be held from 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm Sunday, January 11, at Parkway Funeral Service, 2330 Tyler Parkway, Bismarck. Joseph Arlo Westby was born February 9, 1937, in Bellingham, WA, while his parents, Oscar and Anna, were visiting relatives there. He was raised on a farm near Fairdale, ND, and educated there, graduating from Fairdale High School. While a student, he participated in sports, band, choir, and drama productions at the high school. The Westby family had its own band for a time during which he played trumpet, poorly, he often said. He also taught himself saxophone, clarinet and violin, and tinkered with each of them for a time. Upon graduation, he received a scholarship to, attended, and graduated from Concordia College, Moorhead, MN, with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He attained a major in biology and a minor in chemistry. In 1955, he married Dorothy Nye in Lawton, ND. They had six children: Timothy Scott, Pamela Kay, Lisa Maureen, Thomas Oscar, Theodore Edward, and Erik Charles. Joe's children and grandchildren were always important to him and central to his life, even though they were scattered all over the country. Joe loved his children dearly, and they loved him in return. He was respected for his sage advice and was a generous man in so many ways. He attended the University of North Dakota, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Education degree, and began his teaching career in Valley City Public Schools in the fall of 1961. He taught science in the junior high school for three years, during which time he was invited to participate in a statewide writing project to develop a new science curriculum for junior high sciences sponsored by the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction. Much of that curriculum is still in use in schools today. Joe then returned to UND under a National Science Foundation Fellowship, obtaining his Masters in Science Teaching degree in 1965. After obtaining his masters degree, he returned to Valley City High School where he taught chemistry and advanced biology--a course he designed and implemented for seniors pursuing careers in the medical fields. He also created a chemistry course with enhanced opportunity for laboratory work for students occupying seven hours per week rather than the traditional five hours. He was proud of the success of his students, many of them pursuing careers in medicine, dentistry, engineering, optometry, nursing, pharmacy, and veterinary medicine, among other distinguished careers. He is especially proud of Congressman Earl Pomeroy's accomplishments. Earl often jokes, "It was Mr. Westby's chemistry class that caused me to enter politics." And, Joe concurred. "Earl made a wise career choice." While teaching in Valley City, Joe was active in his church, teaching Sunday School, the Bethel Bible Series course for adults, singing in the church choir, participating in the church men's organization, and coaching the high school science club and the high school science fair organization in which Valley City students were often among the winners chosen to attend the National Science Fair. He also was a Cub Scout Pack Leader, sang in the Valley City Troubadours Men's Chorus and a quartet, was active in the District #24 Democratic Party-- serving as district chairman for four years with successful elections to the state Legislature--and was a member of the Valley City Elks Club. He also taught organic chemistry to pre-medicine students at Valley City State College during the summer. He often credits his sales experience with World Book Encyclopedia as contributing to his ability to communicate with people and helping him overcoming his basic shyness. Always a believer in his professional association, he served as chief negotiator for the Valley City Education Association for several years and president of VCEA for one term. He served on the North Dakota Education Association Board of Directors for six and one half years and became a member of its part-time field staff prior to joining the full-time staff in 1980. Joe was honored by being named Outstanding Young Educator in Barnes County in 1965 and was runner-up in the Outstanding Young Educator contest statewide that same year. He was named to Outstanding Young Men of America in 1967, and was named to the Personalities of the West and Midwest in the 1969-1970 edition. In 1980, after nineteen years in the classroom, he left teaching to work full-time as a UniServ director for the North Dakota Education Association in its Valley City field office. He loved every minute of his time teaching students and always missed his time spent with them. In his new role, he provided professional development opportunities, negotiations training, member rights representation, political action training, and organizational development opportunities for teachers in the southeastern area of the state. In 1983, he transferred to the Bismarck headquarters office to assume a UniServ position and the research and bargaining position for the state organization. It was in August 1982, at the Governor's Conference on Education at Bismarck State College, that he met Rita Kelly, then an English teacher at Bismarck High School. They were married on March 18, 1983, in Bismarck. Rita's daughter, Shea, became Joe's stepdaughter, and the two of them have enjoyed a close relationship ever since. When Shea married Tarek in 2004, she was escorted down the aisle by Joe and Rita in both her weddings in Boston and Beirut, Lebanon. In 1990, Joe was selected by the NDEA Board of Directors to be its Executive Director. In that role, he supervised the state staff, field staff and support staff, and managed the programs of professional development, member advocacy, public relations, government relations, and the budget, while lobbying state agencies and the Legislature. He took his role in managing the association seriously and often worked long days and weekends to assure he could make the organization as successful as it could be and a credible representative of its members to government agencies, the public, students, and members across the state and nation. Because of his long work schedule, he was not able to participate in choirs, singing groups, and service organizations which he would have liked to do as he did as a teacher. In his 16 years as the NDEA Executive Director, he served a term on the National Council of State Education Associations of the National Education Association representing the nine states of the NEA Midwest Region. As such, he participated in setting policy for the NEA on the national scene. He also represented NDEA along with the NDEA President of The Northern Tier TNT, an organization of five small rural states with similar demographic issues in the northern part of the country. He served as treasurer of that organization for a number of years. Along with the NDEA President, he represented North Dakota educators in the nine-state Midwest Region of the NEA. He served on the Advisory Board of Directors for the Horace Mann Insurance Company for ten years and participated in setting policy for the improvement of the services from the insurance company to education association members across the country. In his tenure as Executive Director, he attended nearly all of the national conventions of the National Education Association held in various cities across the country. The NEA Representative Assembly is the largest deliberative body in the world and sets education policy for the organization on an annual basis. As Executive Director of NDEA, he enjoyed the organizational challenges and the opportunities it gave him to utilize his expertise in designing new programs and solving problems for the organization. He was responsible for leading the organization into a strategic planning process over the course of three years that resulted in the production of a document to guide the association for a number of years into the future. In his 16-year tenure as Executive Director, he worked with four elected presidents and numerous members of the 17-member Board of Directors, as well as a great, dedicated and committed staff of professionals. He was proud of the accomplishments of the association and credits those accomplishments to the dedicated staff and elected leaders who work in the association. 2006 was not a good year health-wise for Joe as he underwent quintuple coronary bypass surgery in February, suffered kidney failure in May, necessitating dialysis three times a week, and then a second heart attack in July resulting in his being air-ambulanced to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, to implant three coronary stents. On Christmas Eve, 2006, he had emergency colon surgery. The health problems resulted in his retirement from the NDEA on December 31, 2006, after 46 years in education, 26 of them with NDEA. He loved working for the association and missed the opportunities he had serving education and its members. He was honored when NDEA established the Joseph A. Westby Leadership Award within the NDEA Foundation to be presented to a deserving member or staff person. He was also named to Who's Who Among Outstanding Business Executives for his work in association management. In 2010 Joe was awarded the Adrian R. Dunn Friend of Education Award in recognition of service to teaching and schools. Joe is survived by his wife, Rita Kelly, Bismarck; his brother Norman Joy Westby, Pelican Rapids, MN; 2 daughters: Pamela, Colorado Springs, CO, and Lisa Dan Peltier, Valley City; 4 sons: Timothy Ann, Houston, TX; Thomas Gabriella, Colorado Springs, CO; Theodore, Atlanta, GA; and Erik Shawn Miller, San Ramon, CA; one step-daughter, Shea Kelly Tarek Assali, Wellesley, MA; and 12 grandchildren: Katherine, Elena and John Westby; Jody Westby; Dylan, Desmond and Demi Peltier; Claudia Westby; Graham and Edward Westby; and Thomas and Chiara Assali; and Holli Westby and Jackie Westby. He was preceded in death by his parents, Oscar Julius and Anna Westby, and his sister and brother-in-law, Marie Ann and Charles Briscoe. Memorials may be given to the Joseph A. Westby Leadership Award program with the NDEA Foundation.

Joseph "Joe" Westby

February 9, 1937 - January 7, 2015