Elizabeth Jean Westphal, age 97, died Thursday June 25, 2015 at the Clarence Nursing Home. A Memorial Mass will be held on Saturday July 11, 2015 at 10:30 a.m. at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Tipton with father Richard Okumu officiating. There will be no visitation. Jean was born June 24, 1918 in Stanwood, Iowa the daughter of Carl and Catherine Murphy Westphal. After graduating from Stanwood high school she attended Iowa State Teachers college for two years and graduated from the University of Iowa with a BA in elementary Education. She then continued her work in graduate school. She was a member of St. Mary's Catholic Church, Delta Kappa Gamma and Pi Lambda Thela, national honor societies, and Gamma Phi Beta Sorority. She was a former member of the American Association of University Women, and a life member of NEA and the University of Iowa Alumni Association. Jean taught school in Lisbon, Sioux City and Tipton Iowa along with Hyannis, Massachusetts and Verona, New Jersey. Her interests were reading, music, travel, the theatre, and she had a lifelong love and concern for animals. There are no immediate family survivors, but those who were like family to her because of their many years of kindness and caring are; William and Darcie Tenley of Stanwood and their children Robert of Dallas, TX., Brian of Anamosa, IA. and Rebecca(Anthony)Bardgett of Manchester, IA.. Also surviving are lifelong friends Mary Jane(Juan)Falcon of Burnsville, MN., Julie(Tom)Kehulas of Santa Maria, CA., and their children Allison Grupe and Andrea Reynolds of Santa Maria, CA. along with Nancy Haesemeyer of Mechanicsville, IA. and Carlotta(Harvest)Williams of Woodbury, MN.. Dear friends of later years were Walt and Katie Gugler and Virginia Eiler, all of Stanwood. She was preceeded in death by her parents. Memorials may be made to Friends of the Animals in Tipton, or a charity of your choice.