Joshia "Betty" Yeh Arios

Joshia "Betty" Yeh Arios born in Chia yi, Taiwan on December 21,1933, passed from this earth on August 20, 2022. In the words of Frank Sinatra, she did life her way.

She was a young child when the conflict with China began in 1939. Escaping bullets and planes was a terrifying time and spending days and nights in air raid shelters was the norm. She recounted to her children, memories of running from planes shooting bullets on both sides, narrowly missing their target.

Her brothers describe her as tall, beautiful and smart. After graduating at the top of  her classes from middle and high school, she was selected for work at an airline where she flourished in her social world.

As a child, she refined her sense of style and fashion.  She created her own clothes patterns, thus tailoring her own wardrobe.  Drawing her own shoe designs, they were made to suit her preferences.

Immigrating from Taiwan to the United States in 1956 at the age of 23, knowing limited English, carrying a 7 month old daughter on her hip, with husband in tow, they arrived by boat in San Francisco. Living her first 7 years in and around the Salinas Valley, she had 3 more daughters before her husband’s Army commitment took the family to Vilseck, Germany, where her 5th and final daughter was born.

Returning to the States after 3 years they settled in Port Deposit, Maryland until her husband, Rod Arios retired from the Army in 1968. The family then moved to Salinas, California to begin their civilian life.

It was there that she realized most of her life’s passions, education, a home, work, but most important, raising her children. Education for herself was studying to become an American citizen, which she achieved in the 60's. She very proudly rattled off facts about the American Constitution that most Americans couldn’t recite.

When she had time (and no one knew where she found it), she enrolled at Hartnell Junior College at first to improve her English further and then classes toward a general education degree. This was the opportunity she was denied growing up as schooling for women was not considered necessary after high school in Taiwan.

Her devotion to education extended to her children as she scraped together money on a Sergeant’s salary to eventually put all 5 daughters through college, some at private universities. Thanks to her they began their careers debt free. After each graduation she congratulated each with a brand new car.

Scrimping and saving money was her mantra as she was able to put together a down payment to buy a brand new home in 1968 to raise her family. It was shortly after this, when she decided to find work to supplement the family income.

Her dreams for her kids to become professionals far exceeded her own goals as she took on a menial job working the assembly line in a vegetable packing shed to support her family. However because of her proven work ethic and knowledge of math (so many nights sitting at the dinner table pounding out a rhythm with her hand while each of learned our multiplication table…2,2,4…2,3,6…2,4,8…on and on, well you get it), she was selected to work in the lab monitoring quality control over all the frozen products. She thrived in that environment earning recognition and accolades from the company as well as her coworkers.

She was so very proud of her new home. She loved new things. Once purchased, she spent what little hard earned money she had after seeing to the needs of her children, on her home. She added an addition including a family room and a second story bedroom with an outdoor deck and an en suite bath.

She cleaned and cleaned so much and so thoroughly, that when she sold the home in 2004, all the original kitchen appliances were still intact, in working condition and immaculate. The home still had the original carpeting clean as a whistle and the fireplace had never been used. She carried the same habits in maintaining that home over to the next brand new home they purchased in Lincoln, California.

Joshia was preceded in death by her husband, Rodrigo Constancio Arios, her father, Wan-Chuan and mother Su-Wu Yeh.

She is survived by her daughters Mary (Harrell), Juanita (Steven), Gloria (Paul), Roberta (Frederick, d.), and Maureen (Randall), nine grandchildren Noah, Jacob, Lucas, Ariana, Alexander, Fiona, Hannah, Isabella, and Willem, and four great-grandchildren Avalina, Cash, Milo and Theo.

She is also survived by her 6 remaining siblings Ri-Yu, Ru-Rong, Young-Shang, Young-Yi, Ru-Show and Ru-Yu.

Her children were her first and most important priority to her last day. While she had a few trusting friendships, she relied on her family for her relationships in her twilight years. When her family expanded to include grandchildren and great- grandchildren they became the joys in her life.

She was a remarkable woman and the true matriarch of our family. There is not one person more respected and admired than she. There is a void in our hearts with her sense of humor, presence, elegance and love, gone. But she will never be forgotten.

Friends and family are welcome to attend the visitation from 10:00-12:45PM on Wednesday, September 14, 2022 with the memorial service starting at 1:00PM all at Price Funeral Chapel, 6335 Sunrise Blvd., Citrus Heights, CA 95610. Interment will take place at 1:15PM on Thursday, September 15, 2022 at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery, 5810 Midway Road, Dixon, CA. 

The memorial service at Price Funeral Chapel will be livestreamed, please visit this page the day of the service and you will find the link. It will go live at 12:45PM. 

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