Westbrook shared her zeal for cooking, life
By Lori Kennedy
Star-News Correspondent
Published: Sunday, March 16, 2008 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, March 16, 2008 at 2:08 a.m.
Union County, N.C., produced its first celebrity when a young 4-H member, Nellie Westbrook, entered the Betty Crocker Cherry Pie Baking Contest, and won.

Westbrook would go on to win local and state titles for her cherry pie baked with a secret ingredient - hog lard, and appeared on WBT-TV's The Betty Feezor Show in Charlotte.

Westbrook died of Lou Gehrig's disease on Jan. 20, at age 70.

A maternal uncle of Westbrook's had succumbed to the same disease previously, so her family knew what to expect. Younger sibling Janet Griffin recalls the experience with the heartbreaking disease.

"We could never keep up with the rate of the disease; we'd get to one stage and she'd progress to the next one," Griffin said.

Westbrook's cooking talents would not be the only things talked about in her hometown of Monroe. She developed a perfect pitch for singing, in addition to her gifted piano hands at the age of 3, when her family realized her ability to mimic any song she heard in church and immediately play it back. Her ability to learn fast developed into a love of teaching, which she practiced on her younger sibling, Griffin.

Westbrook wanted to perfect everything she did, even her attendance as a child at Antioch Baptist Church. During the days of the polio epidemic, all children were restricted from attending any public functions. But this didn't stop Westbrook. Her parents drove her and Griffin to the church parking lot one Sunday morning and let them stay in the car with the windows rolled down. They were on church premises, so it counted.

Westbrook honed her teaching skills at East Carolina University, where she met her husband of 50 years, Richard Westbrook, and later obtained her master's degree in teaching from UNC-Greensboro. She shared her teaching talents at Andrews High School and High Point Central High School.

In 1988 the Westbrooks moved to Ocean Isle Beach, where Westbrook taught home economics at South Brunswick High and Brunswick Community College until her retirement. But Westbrook was not one to stay dormant. She always had a desire for volunteering and at times devoted more than 40 hours a week to Pilot Clubs, nursing homes and high schools, even while working full time.

"She enjoyed helping others and had great ideas on how to make people's lives a little better in the world we live in," daughter Candice Mayo said.

Westbrook assisted the South Brunswick Islands Pilot Club in writing grants, which provided patients at the Autumn Care in Shallotte with an Alzheimer's garden and wheelchair swing so patients unable to walk could at least swing again.

Westbrook's advocacy for disabled and special needs children and adults garnered her the Special Olympics 2007 Volunteer of the Year Award for Brunswick County.

Lifelong family friend Beth Allred remembers Westbrook as her "other mother" and the sister her own mother never had. After marrying her husband in the Westbrooks' house in Jamestown, of course catered by Nellie, Allred recalls the endless times Westbrook gave of herself.

"She gave to all she touched - a smile, kind words, a lesson in life and encouragement as only she could give," Allred said.