Inga-Lill Westblom

Inga-Lill Westblom, age 70, passed away at Hillcrest Hospital following a month-long illness. Services will be at 10:00 a.m., Wednesday, August 14. at Trinity Lutheran Church in Riesel with Pastor Chris Johnson officiating. Burial will follow at Trinity Cemetery. There will be no official visitation before the services. Inga-Lill was born on July 4, 1949, in Kalmar, Sweden. Her parents were Inge Peterson and Lillian Lundquist. Her parents met in junior high school, but when Inga-Lill was born her mother was too young to get married. Inga-Lill was instead raised by her grandmother on a little island off the coast of Sweden. That’s when she learned about Jesus being her Savior. When she was three years old, her mother had reached the legal age to get married. Inga-Lill always told the story of when she saw her father for the first time. He was walking up to the house with a teddy bear in his hand. After graduating from high school, Inga-Lill went on to earn an associate degree in hospital administration. She started working as the Executive Secretary for the Department of Medicine at Oskarshamn Hospital in Sweden. That’s where she one day hired a young doctor who, unbeknown to both, would one day become her husband. They were married on December 23, 1976, in Stockholm. When their daughter, Sofia, was born Inga-Lill gave up her executive career to concentrate on the family. In July 1981 the family immigrated to the US and they became US citizens in 1993. She first lived with her family in Columbia, Missouri, where their son, Richard “Rick” was born. She also lived in Huntington, West Virginia, and St. Louis. In July of 1995 the family settled in Waco. Inga-Lill had two major priorities in life: the Lord her Savior and her family. She devoted her whole life to them. She also had a multitude of other interests that she pursued with the same enthusiasm. She loved food and wine. In 1997 she and her husband started Tehuacana Creek Vineyards, later known as Waco Winery. At the winery she and her husband cooked gourmet dinners for customers for about seven years. Inga-Lill had a solid family history of cooking, having learned from her mother, grandmother and great grandmother, several of whom were professional cooks. She loved dogs having grown up around them. Her father was a trainer of Scandinavian Champion German Shepards. In 1995 Inga-Lill and her husband started a breed club for a rare German breed called hovawart. That year Hovawart Club of America, later known as Hovawart Club of North America, had only four members and four dogs. Today the Club has grown to the point that the breed is now recognized by the American Kennel Club. She had a passion for quilting, an art she learned shortly after coming to America. She specifically made art quilts, some of which have been included in text books of quilting. After 9/11 Inga-Lill made a large wall quilt memorializing everybody’s stand for the USA in the wake of the attack. The quilt used to hang in the winery’s tasting room. One day a customer from Pentagon walked in. He was so taken by the quilt that he wanted to buy it and hang it in the foyer of Pentagon. But Inga-Lill couldn’t sell it. She told him it meant too much to her and the love of her new country to part with it. Over all Inga-Lill was very much a people person. She loved to talk to the customers at the winery. She loved being exposed to other countries’ cultures and read about world history. She spoke seven languages. She is preceded in death by her parents, Inge and Lillian Peterson. Survivors include her husband, Ulf Westblom; her sister, Berit Peterson; and her aunt, Birgitta Aldbo; as well as daughter, Sofia Livorsi and her husband, Daniel, and their children, Nathan, Caroline and Annemarie; and son, Richard Westblom. Pallbearers will be Steve Hart, Jerry Federico, Eugene Bode, Tim Griesse, David Raesner and Justin Lehrmann. Memorials can be given to K9s for Warriors. The family invites you to leave a message or memory on our “Tribute Wall” at www.WHBfamily.com.