A Worldly Woman from humble beginnings -
Elizabeth Jane "Betty" (Turney) Brown was born 27 January 1926 in Oakland, MD to William Newton and Elizabeth (Walter) Turney. She recalled that as an infant her health was poor so her mother took her to "be measured" by the local "witch" (her words). After some investigation, the lady who healed Betty, was likely a distant cousin, Bessie Greer. 'Measuring' part of pow-wow medicine originating with the PA German also called ''braucherei'' or ''Speilwerk'', was passed down through the Greer family. Some of Betty's Turney ancestors were Amish-Mennonite.
Her father died when she was 12 and she dearly missed him. Once in about 1969 when driving west out of Friendsville, MD (a small town north of Oakland), she looked wistfully north. Her daughter, Beth, asked her what she was thinking and she replied, "that's where my Poppa's family lived."
In high school she played Center for the Oakland HS girls basketball team, smoked corn silk behind the barn, and enjoyed cross-country skiing, ice skating, and playing with her many cousins. After graduating high school, she attended Nursing school in Baltimore, MD; but was expelled because she stayed out after curfew. Back to Oakland, and born before her time and in a place that seemed foreign to her, she moved to Worth, IL and stayed with her 'sister' Alice (Walter) and her husband, Bill Archer, and their daughter, Sylvia. Although they didn't have the same parents, they were raised together in Betty's mother's home, after Alice's mother died young and her father David Walter along with her two brothers, Dave, Jr. and Lewis, moved in with Dave's sister. Their close friendship endured all of their lives. Once in Worth, she obtained a job as a copy editor for Esquire Magazine! Uncommon in that day and time for a men's magazine to hire a woman. She recalled thoroughly enjoying it.
She met Ben Brown in the summer of 1946 while on a Boy Scout hike at Starved Rock State Park. Bill Archer was a scout leader and Ben was a scout. It seems from letters exchanged between the two of them, that it was love at first sight. They married a few months later on 14 September 1946 in the Lutheran Church at Oak Lawn, IL the town where Ben was living with his parents.
Right after marrying, they moved to Eureka College where Ben studied Chemistry and Physics. They often said that she should have been given an honorary degree for all of her assistance to Ben. He graduated with honors in 1950 and they plus their young son, Bill, moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign for Ben to begin his Master's degree. At a job fair, before he obtained his Masters, Wright Patterson Air Force Base and Hercules Powder Company offered him positions. He chose to work for Hercules as a research chemist and they moved to the Wilmington, DE area, first living in a small apartment in Parklynn Apartments, Elsmere (when Beth was born), and then a starter home in Brookside, Newark. Shortly after, Ben was promoted and transferred to the Parlin Plant in South River, NJ and Betty once again set-up a new household and in a much larger home. It's a good thing that she liked adventure, as a few years later, in 1955, Ben once again was promoted and transferred this time to the Chicago office and in sales. Betty established a wonderful home in Downer's Grove. And, can you believe it, another promotion/transfer back to DE in 1960 and over the Christmas Holidays! There she and the family lived in Westgate Farms. I imagine she was relieved that another transfer didn't happen for 10 years, especially since her son Biff was born in 1965.
And what a transfer that was! All the way to Brussels, Belgium and with Biff and Duke, their Belgian Malinois dog! Once there, she lived in 3 places: a charming Bread and Breakfast on Avenue Louise while looking for a home, next a very nice home in Woluwe-Saint Pierre, and finally a lovely, spacious home in Kraainem. The challenge was on to set-up not only her own home, but it was to be the home for subsequent employees - and doing so in a foreign land without knowing the languages. Of course, she did a superb job and loved every minute of it, learning French and Flemish, the currency, the customs; shopping in the local markets, attending the National Opera, etc.
[A short story about Duke: Betty took a litter of kittens into the DE SPCA to find Duke sitting in their office. She immediately fell in love with him as he reminded her of her childhood dog, Fritz. Duke came home and quickly became a family member. It did take awhile for him to trust Ben, but Ben was patient and kind. Then one evening, as Ben stood in the foyer coming in from work, Duke laid his head against him in complete trust and affection.]
They returned to DE in 1975 and Betty set-up 3 more homes, first a condo (Coffee Run near Hockessin) while they looked for a home, next the perfect home which resembled their home in Kraainem, Belgium on Hertford Road in Edenridge near Talleyville, and then downsized back into a condo at Superfine Lane along the Brandywine River in Wilmington.
In all of her homes, she was the penultimate hostess. For Beth's High School Prom she 'catered' a pre-Prom dinner for Beth and a few friends, complete with home-baked Petit Fours! She was better than Martha Stewart long before Martha made her claim to fame :) By no means was she just focused on home-making, she bowled, took art classes, gardened, played Canasta with a neighborhood group, volunteered as a driver for the Red Cross (which she loved), played the piano, led both Cub Scout and Girl Scout troops, was greatly involved with the Republican Party, and assisted at the Concord Pike library in Talleyville, DE and at St. John's Library of the St. John's International School in Brussels, Belgium.
Betty treasured her grandchildren, Molly McKee (now Kellum), daughter of Beth, as well as Bill's sons, Julius and Albert. They shared many great adventures. She traveled around the world on numerous occasions with Ben, always relishing learning new things and seeing new places. Well, except for their trip to Indonesia when a snake slithered across her feet! Betty never liked snakes and she swore years later that her circulation problems were due to this "cold, slimy, evil" snake experience.
Some of her favorite music included Scheherazade (Rimsky-Korsakov), Willow Weep for Me (Chad & Jeremy), Michelle (The Beatles), Rhapsody in Blue (George Gershwin), Fly Like an Eagle (Steve Miller Band), and anything by Count Basie. A few people she admired were Sir Ernest Shackleton (polar explorer), Ronald Reagan (alum of Eureka College and US President), Julia Child (and her impeccable towel), Jane Goodall, and Isak Dinesen/Karen Blixen (Betty thoroughly enjoyed visiting her home in Denmark).
Although shy to admit it, Betty was interested in the paranormal, having fun with things like Ouija Boards, horoscopes, and the like. She believed in an after-life and reincarnation.
Over the Christmas Holidays of 2001, she had a series of mini-strokes. She had previously suffered from heart problems (requiring a 5-bypass) and other circulation issues (that dang snake!). In April, Betty and Ben moved into their last home at Ingleside Homes (retirement housing) in Wilmington. It was one move too many, and Betty passed away on Mother's Day, 12 May 2002, with most of her family present. She requested her body be donated to Jefferson Medical School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. In 2005, her ashes were returned to the family and they buried her remains in the Memorial Garden at Red Clay Creek Presbyterian Church in Wilmington.
May she rest in blissful peace until she's ready for the next adventure. Written with love by her daughter, Beth.
Elizabeth Jane "Betty" (Turney) Brown was born 27 January 1926 in Oakland, MD to William Newton and Elizabeth (Walter) Turney. She recalled that as an infant her health was poor so her mother took her to "be measured" by the local "witch" (her words). After some investigation, the lady who healed Betty, was likely a distant cousin, Bessie Greer. 'Measuring' part of pow-wow medicine originating with the PA German also called ''braucherei'' or ''Speilwerk'', was passed down through the Greer family. Some of Betty's Turney ancestors were Amish-Mennonite.
Her father died when she was 12 and she dearly missed him. Once in about 1969 when driving west out of Friendsville, MD (a small town north of Oakland), she looked wistfully north. Her daughter, Beth, asked her what she was thinking and she replied, "that's where my Poppa's family lived."
In high school she played Center for the Oakland HS girls basketball team, smoked corn silk behind the barn, and enjoyed cross-country skiing, ice skating, and playing with her many cousins. After graduating high school, she attended Nursing school in Baltimore, MD; but was expelled because she stayed out after curfew. Back to Oakland, and born before her time and in a place that seemed foreign to her, she moved to Worth, IL and stayed with her 'sister' Alice (Walter) and her husband, Bill Archer, and their daughter, Sylvia. Although they didn't have the same parents, they were raised together in Betty's mother's home, after Alice's mother died young and her father David Walter along with her two brothers, Dave, Jr. and Lewis, moved in with Dave's sister. Their close friendship endured all of their lives. Once in Worth, she obtained a job as a copy editor for Esquire Magazine! Uncommon in that day and time for a men's magazine to hire a woman. She recalled thoroughly enjoying it.
She met Ben Brown in the summer of 1946 while on a Boy Scout hike at Starved Rock State Park. Bill Archer was a scout leader and Ben was a scout. It seems from letters exchanged between the two of them, that it was love at first sight. They married a few months later on 14 September 1946 in the Lutheran Church at Oak Lawn, IL the town where Ben was living with his parents.
Right after marrying, they moved to Eureka College where Ben studied Chemistry and Physics. They often said that she should have been given an honorary degree for all of her assistance to Ben. He graduated with honors in 1950 and they plus their young son, Bill, moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign for Ben to begin his Master's degree. At a job fair, before he obtained his Masters, Wright Patterson Air Force Base and Hercules Powder Company offered him positions. He chose to work for Hercules as a research chemist and they moved to the Wilmington, DE area, first living in a small apartment in Parklynn Apartments, Elsmere (when Beth was born), and then a starter home in Brookside, Newark. Shortly after, Ben was promoted and transferred to the Parlin Plant in South River, NJ and Betty once again set-up a new household and in a much larger home. It's a good thing that she liked adventure, as a few years later, in 1955, Ben once again was promoted and transferred this time to the Chicago office and in sales. Betty established a wonderful home in Downer's Grove. And, can you believe it, another promotion/transfer back to DE in 1960 and over the Christmas Holidays! There she and the family lived in Westgate Farms. I imagine she was relieved that another transfer didn't happen for 10 years, especially since her son Biff was born in 1965.
And what a transfer that was! All the way to Brussels, Belgium and with Biff and Duke, their Belgian Malinois dog! Once there, she lived in 3 places: a charming Bread and Breakfast on Avenue Louise while looking for a home, next a very nice home in Woluwe-Saint Pierre, and finally a lovely, spacious home in Kraainem. The challenge was on to set-up not only her own home, but it was to be the home for subsequent employees - and doing so in a foreign land without knowing the languages. Of course, she did a superb job and loved every minute of it, learning French and Flemish, the currency, the customs; shopping in the local markets, attending the National Opera, etc.
[A short story about Duke: Betty took a litter of kittens into the DE SPCA to find Duke sitting in their office. She immediately fell in love with him as he reminded her of her childhood dog, Fritz. Duke came home and quickly became a family member. It did take awhile for him to trust Ben, but Ben was patient and kind. Then one evening, as Ben stood in the foyer coming in from work, Duke laid his head against him in complete trust and affection.]
They returned to DE in 1975 and Betty set-up 3 more homes, first a condo (Coffee Run near Hockessin) while they looked for a home, next the perfect home which resembled their home in Kraainem, Belgium on Hertford Road in Edenridge near Talleyville, and then downsized back into a condo at Superfine Lane along the Brandywine River in Wilmington.
In all of her homes, she was the penultimate hostess. For Beth's High School Prom she 'catered' a pre-Prom dinner for Beth and a few friends, complete with home-baked Petit Fours! She was better than Martha Stewart long before Martha made her claim to fame :) By no means was she just focused on home-making, she bowled, took art classes, gardened, played Canasta with a neighborhood group, volunteered as a driver for the Red Cross (which she loved), played the piano, led both Cub Scout and Girl Scout troops, was greatly involved with the Republican Party, and assisted at the Concord Pike library in Talleyville, DE and at St. John's Library of the St. John's International School in Brussels, Belgium.
Betty treasured her grandchildren, Molly McKee (now Kellum), daughter of Beth, as well as Bill's sons, Julius and Albert. They shared many great adventures. She traveled around the world on numerous occasions with Ben, always relishing learning new things and seeing new places. Well, except for their trip to Indonesia when a snake slithered across her feet! Betty never liked snakes and she swore years later that her circulation problems were due to this "cold, slimy, evil" snake experience.
Some of her favorite music included Scheherazade (Rimsky-Korsakov), Willow Weep for Me (Chad & Jeremy), Michelle (The Beatles), Rhapsody in Blue (George Gershwin), Fly Like an Eagle (Steve Miller Band), and anything by Count Basie. A few people she admired were Sir Ernest Shackleton (polar explorer), Ronald Reagan (alum of Eureka College and US President), Julia Child (and her impeccable towel), Jane Goodall, and Isak Dinesen/Karen Blixen (Betty thoroughly enjoyed visiting her home in Denmark).
Although shy to admit it, Betty was interested in the paranormal, having fun with things like Ouija Boards, horoscopes, and the like. She believed in an after-life and reincarnation.
Over the Christmas Holidays of 2001, she had a series of mini-strokes. She had previously suffered from heart problems (requiring a 5-bypass) and other circulation issues (that dang snake!). In April, Betty and Ben moved into their last home at Ingleside Homes (retirement housing) in Wilmington. It was one move too many, and Betty passed away on Mother's Day, 12 May 2002, with most of her family present. She requested her body be donated to Jefferson Medical School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. In 2005, her ashes were returned to the family and they buried her remains in the Memorial Garden at Red Clay Creek Presbyterian Church in Wilmington.
May she rest in blissful peace until she's ready for the next adventure. Written with love by her daughter, Beth.
A Worldly Woman from humble beginnings -
Elizabeth Jane "Betty" (Turney) Brown was born 27 January 1926 in Oakland, MD to William Newton and Elizabeth (Walter) Turney. She recalled that as an infant her health was poor so her mother took her to "be measured" by the local "witch" (her words). After some investigation, the lady who healed Betty, was likely a distant cousin, Bessie Greer. 'Measuring' part of pow-wow medicine originating with the PA German also called ''braucherei'' or ''Speilwerk'', was passed down through the Greer family. Some of Betty's Turney ancestors were Amish-Mennonite.
Her father died when she was 12 and she dearly missed him. Once in about 1969 when driving west out of Friendsville, MD (a small town north of Oakland), she looked wistfully north. Her daughter, Beth, asked her what she was thinking and she replied, "that's where my Poppa's family lived."
In high school she played Center for the Oakland HS girls basketball team, smoked corn silk behind the barn, and enjoyed cross-country skiing, ice skating, and playing with her many cousins. After graduating high school, she attended Nursing school in Baltimore, MD; but was expelled because she stayed out after curfew. Back to Oakland, and born before her time and in a place that seemed foreign to her, she moved to Worth, IL and stayed with her 'sister' Alice (Walter) and her husband, Bill Archer, and their daughter, Sylvia. Although they didn't have the same parents, they were raised together in Betty's mother's home, after Alice's mother died young and her father David Walter along with her two brothers, Dave, Jr. and Lewis, moved in with Dave's sister. Their close friendship endured all of their lives. Once in Worth, she obtained a job as a copy editor for Esquire Magazine! Uncommon in that day and time for a men's magazine to hire a woman. She recalled thoroughly enjoying it.
She met Ben Brown in the summer of 1946 while on a Boy Scout hike at Starved Rock State Park. Bill Archer was a scout leader and Ben was a scout. It seems from letters exchanged between the two of them, that it was love at first sight. They married a few months later on 14 September 1946 in the Lutheran Church at Oak Lawn, IL the town where Ben was living with his parents.
Right after marrying, they moved to Eureka College where Ben studied Chemistry and Physics. They often said that she should have been given an honorary degree for all of her assistance to Ben. He graduated with honors in 1950 and they plus their young son, Bill, moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign for Ben to begin his Master's degree. At a job fair, before he obtained his Masters, Wright Patterson Air Force Base and Hercules Powder Company offered him positions. He chose to work for Hercules as a research chemist and they moved to the Wilmington, DE area, first living in a small apartment in Parklynn Apartments, Elsmere (when Beth was born), and then a starter home in Brookside, Newark. Shortly after, Ben was promoted and transferred to the Parlin Plant in South River, NJ and Betty once again set-up a new household and in a much larger home. It's a good thing that she liked adventure, as a few years later, in 1955, Ben once again was promoted and transferred this time to the Chicago office and in sales. Betty established a wonderful home in Downer's Grove. And, can you believe it, another promotion/transfer back to DE in 1960 and over the Christmas Holidays! There she and the family lived in Westgate Farms. I imagine she was relieved that another transfer didn't happen for 10 years, especially since her son Biff was born in 1965.
And what a transfer that was! All the way to Brussels, Belgium and with Biff and Duke, their Belgian Malinois dog! Once there, she lived in 3 places: a charming Bread and Breakfast on Avenue Louise while looking for a home, next a very nice home in Woluwe-Saint Pierre, and finally a lovely, spacious home in Kraainem. The challenge was on to set-up not only her own home, but it was to be the home for subsequent employees - and doing so in a foreign land without knowing the languages. Of course, she did a superb job and loved every minute of it, learning French and Flemish, the currency, the customs; shopping in the local markets, attending the National Opera, etc.
[A short story about Duke: Betty took a litter of kittens into the DE SPCA to find Duke sitting in their office. She immediately fell in love with him as he reminded her of her childhood dog, Fritz. Duke came home and quickly became a family member. It did take awhile for him to trust Ben, but Ben was patient and kind. Then one evening, as Ben stood in the foyer coming in from work, Duke laid his head against him in complete trust and affection.]
They returned to DE in 1975 and Betty set-up 3 more homes, first a condo (Coffee Run near Hockessin) while they looked for a home, next the perfect home which resembled their home in Kraainem, Belgium on Hertford Road in Edenridge near Talleyville, and then downsized back into a condo at Superfine Lane along the Brandywine River in Wilmington.
In all of her homes, she was the penultimate hostess. For Beth's High School Prom she 'catered' a pre-Prom dinner for Beth and a few friends, complete with home-baked Petit Fours! She was better than Martha Stewart long before Martha made her claim to fame :) By no means was she just focused on home-making, she bowled, took art classes, gardened, played Canasta with a neighborhood group, volunteered as a driver for the Red Cross (which she loved), played the piano, led both Cub Scout and Girl Scout troops, was greatly involved with the Republican Party, and assisted at the Concord Pike library in Talleyville, DE and at St. John's Library of the St. John's International School in Brussels, Belgium.
Betty treasured her grandchildren, Molly McKee (now Kellum), daughter of Beth, as well as Bill's sons, Julius and Albert. They shared many great adventures. She traveled around the world on numerous occasions with Ben, always relishing learning new things and seeing new places. Well, except for their trip to Indonesia when a snake slithered across her feet! Betty never liked snakes and she swore years later that her circulation problems were due to this "cold, slimy, evil" snake experience.
Some of her favorite music included Scheherazade (Rimsky-Korsakov), Willow Weep for Me (Chad & Jeremy), Michelle (The Beatles), Rhapsody in Blue (George Gershwin), Fly Like an Eagle (Steve Miller Band), and anything by Count Basie. A few people she admired were Sir Ernest Shackleton (polar explorer), Ronald Reagan (alum of Eureka College and US President), Julia Child (and her impeccable towel), Jane Goodall, and Isak Dinesen/Karen Blixen (Betty thoroughly enjoyed visiting her home in Denmark).
Although shy to admit it, Betty was interested in the paranormal, having fun with things like Ouija Boards, horoscopes, and the like. She believed in an after-life and reincarnation.
Over the Christmas Holidays of 2001, she had a series of mini-strokes. She had previously suffered from heart problems (requiring a 5-bypass) and other circulation issues (that dang snake!). In April, Betty and Ben moved into their last home at Ingleside Homes (retirement housing) in Wilmington. It was one move too many, and Betty passed away on Mother's Day, 12 May 2002, with most of her family present. She requested her body be donated to Jefferson Medical School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. In 2005, her ashes were returned to the family and they buried her remains in the Memorial Garden at Red Clay Creek Presbyterian Church in Wilmington.
May she rest in blissful peace until she's ready for the next adventure. Written with love by her daughter, Beth.
Elizabeth Jane "Betty" (Turney) Brown was born 27 January 1926 in Oakland, MD to William Newton and Elizabeth (Walter) Turney. She recalled that as an infant her health was poor so her mother took her to "be measured" by the local "witch" (her words). After some investigation, the lady who healed Betty, was likely a distant cousin, Bessie Greer. 'Measuring' part of pow-wow medicine originating with the PA German also called ''braucherei'' or ''Speilwerk'', was passed down through the Greer family. Some of Betty's Turney ancestors were Amish-Mennonite.
Her father died when she was 12 and she dearly missed him. Once in about 1969 when driving west out of Friendsville, MD (a small town north of Oakland), she looked wistfully north. Her daughter, Beth, asked her what she was thinking and she replied, "that's where my Poppa's family lived."
In high school she played Center for the Oakland HS girls basketball team, smoked corn silk behind the barn, and enjoyed cross-country skiing, ice skating, and playing with her many cousins. After graduating high school, she attended Nursing school in Baltimore, MD; but was expelled because she stayed out after curfew. Back to Oakland, and born before her time and in a place that seemed foreign to her, she moved to Worth, IL and stayed with her 'sister' Alice (Walter) and her husband, Bill Archer, and their daughter, Sylvia. Although they didn't have the same parents, they were raised together in Betty's mother's home, after Alice's mother died young and her father David Walter along with her two brothers, Dave, Jr. and Lewis, moved in with Dave's sister. Their close friendship endured all of their lives. Once in Worth, she obtained a job as a copy editor for Esquire Magazine! Uncommon in that day and time for a men's magazine to hire a woman. She recalled thoroughly enjoying it.
She met Ben Brown in the summer of 1946 while on a Boy Scout hike at Starved Rock State Park. Bill Archer was a scout leader and Ben was a scout. It seems from letters exchanged between the two of them, that it was love at first sight. They married a few months later on 14 September 1946 in the Lutheran Church at Oak Lawn, IL the town where Ben was living with his parents.
Right after marrying, they moved to Eureka College where Ben studied Chemistry and Physics. They often said that she should have been given an honorary degree for all of her assistance to Ben. He graduated with honors in 1950 and they plus their young son, Bill, moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign for Ben to begin his Master's degree. At a job fair, before he obtained his Masters, Wright Patterson Air Force Base and Hercules Powder Company offered him positions. He chose to work for Hercules as a research chemist and they moved to the Wilmington, DE area, first living in a small apartment in Parklynn Apartments, Elsmere (when Beth was born), and then a starter home in Brookside, Newark. Shortly after, Ben was promoted and transferred to the Parlin Plant in South River, NJ and Betty once again set-up a new household and in a much larger home. It's a good thing that she liked adventure, as a few years later, in 1955, Ben once again was promoted and transferred this time to the Chicago office and in sales. Betty established a wonderful home in Downer's Grove. And, can you believe it, another promotion/transfer back to DE in 1960 and over the Christmas Holidays! There she and the family lived in Westgate Farms. I imagine she was relieved that another transfer didn't happen for 10 years, especially since her son Biff was born in 1965.
And what a transfer that was! All the way to Brussels, Belgium and with Biff and Duke, their Belgian Malinois dog! Once there, she lived in 3 places: a charming Bread and Breakfast on Avenue Louise while looking for a home, next a very nice home in Woluwe-Saint Pierre, and finally a lovely, spacious home in Kraainem. The challenge was on to set-up not only her own home, but it was to be the home for subsequent employees - and doing so in a foreign land without knowing the languages. Of course, she did a superb job and loved every minute of it, learning French and Flemish, the currency, the customs; shopping in the local markets, attending the National Opera, etc.
[A short story about Duke: Betty took a litter of kittens into the DE SPCA to find Duke sitting in their office. She immediately fell in love with him as he reminded her of her childhood dog, Fritz. Duke came home and quickly became a family member. It did take awhile for him to trust Ben, but Ben was patient and kind. Then one evening, as Ben stood in the foyer coming in from work, Duke laid his head against him in complete trust and affection.]
They returned to DE in 1975 and Betty set-up 3 more homes, first a condo (Coffee Run near Hockessin) while they looked for a home, next the perfect home which resembled their home in Kraainem, Belgium on Hertford Road in Edenridge near Talleyville, and then downsized back into a condo at Superfine Lane along the Brandywine River in Wilmington.
In all of her homes, she was the penultimate hostess. For Beth's High School Prom she 'catered' a pre-Prom dinner for Beth and a few friends, complete with home-baked Petit Fours! She was better than Martha Stewart long before Martha made her claim to fame :) By no means was she just focused on home-making, she bowled, took art classes, gardened, played Canasta with a neighborhood group, volunteered as a driver for the Red Cross (which she loved), played the piano, led both Cub Scout and Girl Scout troops, was greatly involved with the Republican Party, and assisted at the Concord Pike library in Talleyville, DE and at St. John's Library of the St. John's International School in Brussels, Belgium.
Betty treasured her grandchildren, Molly McKee (now Kellum), daughter of Beth, as well as Bill's sons, Julius and Albert. They shared many great adventures. She traveled around the world on numerous occasions with Ben, always relishing learning new things and seeing new places. Well, except for their trip to Indonesia when a snake slithered across her feet! Betty never liked snakes and she swore years later that her circulation problems were due to this "cold, slimy, evil" snake experience.
Some of her favorite music included Scheherazade (Rimsky-Korsakov), Willow Weep for Me (Chad & Jeremy), Michelle (The Beatles), Rhapsody in Blue (George Gershwin), Fly Like an Eagle (Steve Miller Band), and anything by Count Basie. A few people she admired were Sir Ernest Shackleton (polar explorer), Ronald Reagan (alum of Eureka College and US President), Julia Child (and her impeccable towel), Jane Goodall, and Isak Dinesen/Karen Blixen (Betty thoroughly enjoyed visiting her home in Denmark).
Although shy to admit it, Betty was interested in the paranormal, having fun with things like Ouija Boards, horoscopes, and the like. She believed in an after-life and reincarnation.
Over the Christmas Holidays of 2001, she had a series of mini-strokes. She had previously suffered from heart problems (requiring a 5-bypass) and other circulation issues (that dang snake!). In April, Betty and Ben moved into their last home at Ingleside Homes (retirement housing) in Wilmington. It was one move too many, and Betty passed away on Mother's Day, 12 May 2002, with most of her family present. She requested her body be donated to Jefferson Medical School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. In 2005, her ashes were returned to the family and they buried her remains in the Memorial Garden at Red Clay Creek Presbyterian Church in Wilmington.
May she rest in blissful peace until she's ready for the next adventure. Written with love by her daughter, Beth.
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