Betty Yvette Hastrop
1941 – 2022

Betty Yvette Hastrop was born on April 30, 1941 in Jackson Georgia, USA. She was better known
as “Yvette” to family and friends and most of the line dancers in Bancroft. Yvette passed away
peacefully with her beloved husband Tony at her side, on Monday August 15th at 8:00pm. She had
been in the Bancroft hospital for six weeks and then transferred to Kingston General Hospital for
two weeks where she passed away in the Intensive Care Unit. Yvette had been struggling with
multiple health issues since 2004, when she had open heart surgery to install an artificial aortic
valve. In 2007 she had breast cancer surgery and in 2015 she was told that her mitral heart valve
should now be replaced as well, but this was put on hold due the high risk of the surgery. These
problems in combination with diabetes, asthma and weakened kidneys eventually caused her heart
to give out. However, she amazed everyone with her positive and cheerful outlook on life until the
very end.

Yvette went to school in Georgia with her sisters Bernice and Nancy. She also had two half-
brothers, Larry in Georgia and Harold in South Carolina. In high school she played trumpet in the

school band and took ballet lessons, which gave her a lifelong love of dance. Then, in her twenties,
she took up ballroom dancing. In 1969 she moved to Toronto and became a senior dance
instructor at the Pollock Ballroom Dance studio. This was where she met her future husband, Tony.
Yvette and Tony got married in July 1970 and bought a house in Bramalea. Yvette studied to
become a certified dental assistant and worked for a local dentist in Bramalea. Tony was an
industrial engineer at Douglas Aircraft. They spent most weekends in Algonquin Park canoeing and
camping. This gave them a love of the outdoors and a longing to move out of the city. In 1974 they
bought a 50 acre wood lot in Lake Township and built a cabin where they could stay on weekends.
They then cleared some of the land and started to build a 1,000 square foot house. By 1980 the
house was ready, and they moved in permanently. Tony got a job as plant manager at Universal
Seal in Bancroft and Yvette did volunteer work in the Physiotherapy department of the Bancroft
hospital. They grew their own food and lived off the grid for 11 years. However, Tony’s increasing
job demands made it necessary to eventually move into Bancroft.
In 1991 Yvette and Tony bought a house on Bridge Street East in Bancroft (which is where they
were living at the time of Yvette’s passing). Yvette wanted to get back into dancing and, for a while,
she taught ballroom dancing at Loyalist College. However, she found that there was much less
interest in ballroom dancing in Bancroft than in the big cities. Instead, there was a big interest in
line dancing. Before too long she was teaching four line dance classes a week, with some classes
having over 40 dancers. Two of the biggest classes were at the Shamrock Club at the Dungannon
Recreation Centre. In September 2005 she organized a dance jamboree in which 150 dancers
attended.
Yvette also loved to travel and had many memorable trips across Europe, the Southern States,
Alaska, Mexico, the Caribbean, and the Mediterranean. She particularly liked to visit historical sites
like Chichen Itza, Pompeii and Ephesus.
Yvette had a great positive outlook on life. She was always there to help others out because she
had so much love to give. It was this attitude that attracted so many people to her and made it so
easy to love her. She will be dearly missed by her husband, Tony, family and her many friends!
A Celebration of Life will be planned for Yvette in the future.