Educated Author Tara Westover Family Photo and Details

Tara Westover Family Photo is rare as she has been estranged from them for a very long time. The collage below shows her parents and siblings in one frame.

The Educated author grew up in a survivalist family and her father and mother did not believe in government, public schools, or even doctors and hospitals. They did not have permits, licenses, and even birth certificates growing up so as to not leave a trail of documentation behind for the feds, according to Desert News.

Moreover, to keep the family off the grid, Val and LaRee might have restricted on taking pictures of the them together and kept the few images secure away from the reach of general public.

Although Westover siblings and parents might not have published a picture with every member of the family posing together, they do share images on social media sometimes.

However, her siblings and parents have shared few images of themselves on the internet, some through social media and others through interviews with news portals and publications.

Unfortunately, the author’s pictures with her dad and mom and six siblings is not available yet. She has cut ties, sort of, with her family for very long now and never share their images on social media.

Tara Westover Parents Val Westover and LaRee Westover were mentioned using the pseudonyms Gene and Faye in the book Educated. Val and LaRee were Mormon survivalists.

Val Westover

Tara Westover dad Val Westover was introduced by his pseudonym Gene in her memoir Educated. Val Westover did not believe in the federal government.

Val ruled and kept his family under control by frequently citing Ruby Ridge, a siege in Idaho resulting in several casualties, according to Deseret News. He also promised one day a SWAT team will raid their home and have everyone fill out a bug-out bag in preparation.

The memoirist claims in Educated that her father Val would employ all of his kids at his scrapyard where minor and major injuries were common. The work at the scrapyard left the kids with little or no time for their studies.

Now, in his early 70s Val still owns the scrapyard and lives in the same property with his wife and a few of the kids. He has grown restless and often circles the property overseeing all the operations in their establishment.

LaRee Westover

LaRee Westover is the mother of Educated author. LaRee wrote her own memoir titled Educating as a response to her youngest daughter’s book.

LaRee is mentioned in the memoir Educated by her pseudonym Faye. She homeschooled all of her seven children, which she details in her own book Educating. She was also a Mormon survivalist, as depicted in her daughter’s book.

In addition to being a tutor for the family, LaRee was also the family medic. LaRee had studied herbalism and methods of Alternat healing. She treated her children and husband at home with oils and herbal medicine, even during major incidents and emergencies.

Now, LaRee has established herself as a published author with her book ‘Educating’ but did not gain much fame, and as a successful businesswoman and educator.

She now operates Butterfly Expressions, an essential oil-selling company and education organization for teaching alternative medicine.

Tara Westover Parents Business

Tara Westover family business includes a scrapyard and Butterfly Expressions. Tara does not have any involvement with either of those now.

The family business has developed significantly, at least from the accounts the author gives through her 2018 books, with Val and LaRee hiring employees, lawyers, and accountants, and registering numerous LLC companies for each of their businesses, according to Deseret News.

Tara Westover parents business now focuses on educating people about alternating medicine and selling essential oil through their company Butterfly Expressions. While Val is focused on the retail and sales portion of the business, LaRee does the teaching part with her regular classes.

The company’s Facebook pages regularly update people about upcoming sessions and guests. Butterfly Expressions also has an online store and website with all the relevant information as well.

Much about their scrapyard business as of 2023 is not available. While Tara remembers the place as a pile of junk with kids dodging metal beams and hanging on forklifts, the condition might have changed for good after the publication of the book. Some of the author’s siblings still work at the facility helping Val and LaRee.

Tara Westover siblings are Tony Westover, Travis Westover, Tyler Westover, Luke Westover, Valaree Westover, and Richard Westover. Tara is the youngest.

Tony Westover

Tony Westover is the oldest of seven siblings. Tony is 12 years older than Tara making him 48 years old as of 2023.

The oldest sibling just recently left the brood after working for over a decade with his parents. According to Tony’s LinkedIn profile, he worked as a manager for Butterfly Expressions from 2013 to March 2023.

However, Tony now works at Silver Creek Midstream as a Measurement Specialist in Douglas, Wyoming, United States. He has held the position since November 2021.

Tony is married to Michele Westover since April 4, 1997, and shares a daughter named Elaina Westover, according to his Facebook profile.

Travis Westover (Shawn Westover)

Tara Westover brother Shawn Westover is the nickname for his real name Travis Westover. Shawn is a pseudonym used to conceal the identity of Travis.

Shawn’s real name is Travis according to The Bibliofile, he is a decade older than the author, making him 46 years old as of 2023. The siblings do not have a merry memory of their childhood, at least not according to Tara’s book Educated.

She violently accuses Travis (Shawn) of pulling her hair, choking her, and even verbally abusing her while their father and mother turned a blind eye to the abuse. The claims have been disputed, by many friends and family members, but still, it is written on Educated.

Furthermore, Tara recounts in her book, when she spoke to her parents about the abuse after years and they called Shawn in to clear the air, he bought along a bloody knife to the talk. The author could not contain herself and left the premise at once.

Now, according to Deseret News, Travis is a changed man. He is married to Emily Westover.

Travis (Shawn) is all down to help everyone around him and has become a completely different person after surviving two near-fatal accidents, the author took him to the hospital and cared for him in the second instance. 

Tyler Westover

Tyler Westover is the third brother of the author. Tyler is eight years older than Tara making him 44 years old as of 2023.

Tara Westover brother Tyler was the first one to attend and graduate college among the siblings. He won a four-year full-tuition-paying scholarship at Brigham Young University to complete engineering.

Tyler is the inspiration for Tara to attend four years of college, he encouraged the author to get a scholarship and prepare for the ACT exam. He also suggested books and methods to prepare for the ACT exam.

He received his bachelor’s degree from BYU and later attended Purdue University for his Master’s and Doctoral degrees.

Luke Westover

Luke Westover is the fourth brother of the Educated author. Luke is six years older than Tara making him 42 years old.

The author mentions Luke getting a severe burn while working in their father’s scrapyard as a kid and she recalls her mother treating him with her herbal medicines and oils at home and not taking him to the emergency room.

According to a comment left on Goodreads by Luke’s elder brother Tyler, he is the only one who did not get a formal education and he had to learn difficulties making it hard for him to attend a public school.

It is unclear if Luke is still working at the scrapyard with his parents or has moved on with his life. Information about his wife and kids is also not available.

Valaree Westover (Audrey Westover)

Valaree is the only sister of the author of the memoir Educated. Valaree is introduced to the readers as Audrey in the book to conceal her identity.

Valaree is 41 years old, she is five years older than the author who is 36 years old as of 2023. Valaree and Tara are estranged and do not have regular communication as far as known.

Their relationship turned sour when Tara shared the suffering and alleged abuse from Shawn to Valaree after a day of snowboarding. Valaree then refused to have a conversation with Tara without a witness and preferred written communication.

According to Deseret News, Valaree now recalls if she had known how dangerous Tara was for trying to divide the family.

Valaree is now married to her husband Benjamin and has a lovely married life herself. She does not make much of social media appearances.

Richard Westover

Richard Westover is the second youngest among the Westover siblings. Richard is four years older than the author and is 40 years old.

Richard is another Doctorate degree holder in the family, he attended Idaho State University for his Master’s Degree in Inorganic Chemistry and later went to the University of Oregon for his Ph.D. in Materials Chemistry.

The second youngest Westover sibling currently works at Intel Corporation as a Process TD Engineer, he has held the position since March 2016. Previously, Richard worked for the University of Oregon according to his LinkedIn profile.

Richard is married to his wife Kami Westover, they share four children together. Both Richard and his wife Kami share their life on social media.

Despite popular belief, Educated author Tara Westover is not married to Drew. Many believed Tara Westover husband is Drew Mecham when she introduced him in chapter 14 of the book.

Drew Mecahm is her first partner and boyfriend with whom the author shares about her family life and upbringing. He helped Tara during their Cambridge years but unfortunately, they are no longer together.

The author acknowledges Drew in her book and thanks him as a very good friend, the pair might have already ended their relationship and stayed good friends at the time of the book’s publication in 2018.

Moreover, Drew also left a review of Tara’s book Educated on its Amazon page, in the review he wrote “Tara and I are no longer together,” as part of full disclosure. He also admitted to meeting most of the characters in the author’s memoir.

Furthermore, he also supported the third part of the book and said he was together with the author when the events unfolded.

Drew has kept himself off the radar and keeps his personal life to himself, just like the author who also does not reveal anything about her married life.

She never married Drew and currently lives in London.

Tara Westover grew up in an isolated establishment in  Clifton, Idaho. Tara is from a remote place beneath Buck’s Peak, 12 miles from the city of Preston.

The author grew up living off the grid as her parents were suspicious of the federal government, public schools, and hospitals. Tara was homeschooled and worked at her father’s scrapyard since her childhood.

Is Tara Westover Mormon?

Tara Westover parents raised her in the Mormon faith as they were Mormon survivalists themself. Tara grew up reading religious scripts in her childhood.

Although all seven siblings were homeschooled by their mother, they dedicated more time to read religious scripts rather than textbooks and prescribed courses.

According to Deseret News, Tara’s father Val rarely allowed time to read textbooks to his kids but gave them plenty of time to study the bible and other religious books. Tara, like her few older siblings, had to fight to apply for college.

Actress Heidi Gardner also grew up in the Mormon faith and Glenn Beck is another notable personality to follow Mormonism.