* Beulah Vernice Kosub; Longtime Area Resident

Beulah Vernice Kosub, a 71-year Ventura County resident, died Tuesday after a lengthy illness. She was 86.

Kosub was born Oct. 15, 1911, in Grand Valley, Colo., a city later renamed Parachute, according to Kosub’s family. Kosub first visited Ojai as a teenager, her family said.

“She came on vacation with her parents and she just fell in love with the area, and I think that’s when she first spotted my dad,” said Kosub’s daughter, Marlene Stone of Ventura.

In 1927, Kosub moved to Ojai. In 1931, she married Martin Kosub.

After her husband died in 1982, Kosub moved to Ventura to be closer to her daughter. Kosub was also preceded in death by a son, Bill Kosub.

Kosub worked as a packer and a crate counter for the Ojai Orange Assn. and later as a cook at Villanova Preparatory School in Ojai. Stone said her mother was a great cook who was well-known for her pies.

“She was a natural cook. She could go into the kitchen and whip together a few things and have something come out of there that was unbelievable,” Stone said.

Kosub enjoyed painting pictures of children, animals and flowers, as well as making her own clothes, Stone said. She also enjoyed traveling to Europe and Hawaii. Kosub was a devout Catholic.

For years, Kosub said she would not ride a bicycle, but then she learned in her 50s after being taught by a grandson, Stone said.

“After that, you couldn’t get her off of it,” Stone said.

In addition to her daughter, Kosub is survived by three grandsons, seven great-grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews.

A visitation is planned from 2 to 7 p.m. today at Joseph P. Reardon Funeral Home in Ventura. A rosary will be recited after the visitation. Mass will be said at 10:30 a.m. Friday at Sacred Heart Church in Ventura. Interment will follow at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park in Ventura.

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the Livingston Memorial Visiting Nurses Assn.’s hospice program in Ventura.