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Sylvia E. Lee-Westlie • 1943 - 2006 She was born July 10, 1943, in Minot, a daughter of Clarence and Ruth (Thorvik) Barnett. She was raised in Minot and attended Minot schools, graduating from Minot High School in 1962. She attended Jahr's Beauty School in Minot. She spent seven years in Costa Mesa, CA, where she worked as a hairdresser, in a wig salon, modeled for hair style magazines and did some free lance painting. She lived the balance of her life in Minot where, in 1989, she met John Westlie. They were married Feb. 24, 2006. On first returning to Minot, she became employed at RCC Western Wear. Then she went to work at Wild Things Gallery. She regarded this as a dream job, a place that provided opportunities for her to expand on her lifelong love and work as an artist and to become better acquainted with the work of other artists. She also learned how to do framing while at Wild Things Gallery and to explore other directions in art. "I've been painting and drawing since I was a kid growing up in northeast Minot," she told Cleo Cantlon in a 2005 interview for The Minot Daily News. "I used acrylics to paint murals for the Diamond Brothers for their store on Broadway in Minot and I painted a mural in the back of the Arrowhead Drug …" Always, it seems, her work kept taking her in new directions. She began to focus on wildlife and found that painting horses was her first love. She made her own prints, cut her own mats. With the encouragement of her husband John and her son Pete Lee, she moved in to computer work, taking up digital composition and fantasy art. Over time, she did a lot of work through commission. Her paintings have sold throughout the United States, in Canada, England and New Zealand. After five years at Wild Things Gallery, her health began to fail. She continued to be fully engaged in her art work at home, drawing much inspiration from the natural surroundings where she and John lived. The pair also spent time during the spring and fall seasons at the Westlie lake home on Lake Kenossee in Carlyle, Saskatchewan. She believed her involvement with art and creation was part of healing, telling Cantlon, "Especially when you are surrounded by nature and such beauty and the possibilities of this terrific technology. You learn something new every day." Her website - www.artworkdakota.com - will continue. Survivors: husband John; son, Pete (Jennifer N.) Lee III, Minot; three grandchildren, Peter Lee IV, Jessica and Tiffany; brother, David (Darlene) Barnett, Minot; sister, Geraldine (Lawrence) Ruffo, Endwell, NY; nieces and nephews, Terrance L. Barnett, Kingman, AZ, Deborah (Terry) Pfau, and their children Brittany and Nicholas, Surrey, Val (Patsy) Ruffo, Hodges, SC, Timothy (Mary Ann) Ruffo, Endicott, NY Jennifer (Chad) Dean, Whitney Pt., NY, and Christopher Ruffo, Endicott, NY. She was preceded in death by her first husband, her parents and a nephew, Christopher Barnett. Memorial Service: Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2007, at 2:30 p.m. at St. John the Apostle Catholic Church. Vigil Prayer Service: Monday, Jan. 1, 2007, at 7 p.m. at Thompson-Larson Funeral Home, Minot. Visitation: Saturday, Dec. 30, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday, Jan. 1, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. and Tuesday from 8 a.m. to noon at the funeral home. Burial will be a private family service at Rosehill Memorial
Park in Minot prior to Celebrant of the Liturgies: Father David Zimmer Music: "On Eagles Wings," "Here I Am
Lord" and "Amazing Grace" Supportive Angels Who Took Care of Sylvia: Kathy Rock,
Verna Mobley, Trudy Cashmore and Judy Gill Active Bearers: Rex Coffey, Vern Skaug, Gary Marto,
Mark Hamilton, Tom Widdel,Dennis Nygaard To sign the online guest register
for Sylvia |
Minot
area artist Sylvia E. Lee-Westlie, 63, 2900 Highway 2 and 52
West, P.O. Box 26, Burlington, died Monday, Dec. 25, 2006, following
a long and courageous battle with leukemia. Her death occurred
at her residence, a century-old place which she and her husband
John refurbished. It was built by Jim Johnson, founder of Burlington.