Elizabeth
Boyd Barclay Wales died on July 30, 2024, in Colchester, Vt. She was
born in Riverton, N.J., on April 5, 1925.
The
daughter of Therese Spackman and Richard D. Barclay, she was the
youngest of four children. She attended Riverton Public School,
Moorestown Friends School and Middlebury College (class of ‘46).
She worked at the Country Store in Concord, Mass., for several years,
and managed the store’s summer branch on Martha’s Vineyard. Later
she was employed as a secretary in the Harvard alumni office and then
in the M.I.T. English and History Department.
Betsy
married Gilman O. Wales of Abington, Mass., in 1951. They first lived
in Walpole, Mass., and then in Norwell, Mass., for 29 years. She and
Ozzie raised four children. Betsy was active in the Norwell schools.
She cochaired a state-mandated community school system evaluation and
helped initiate the school volunteer program. She and Ozzie were
instrumental in starting the American Field Service program in
Norwell and hosted the first AFS student for the town, Christer
Falldin, from Umea, Sweden. Betsy and Ozzie were charter members of
the Norwell United Church of Christ, Congregational. Betsy helped to
start the church-community nursery school.
Moving
to Yarmouth, Maine, in 1984, allowed Betsy more time for her artistic
gifts, and she studied at the University of Southern Maine and the
Maine College of Art. She hosted several shows of her beautiful,
sensitive watercolor paintings. As an active member of the Cumberland
Congregational Church, Betsy started the Good Friday Walk fundraiser
for Habitat for Humanity and also dedicated her energies to Bread for
the World.
Betsy
was a lifelong athlete, starring in track, basketball and field
hockey, and she enjoyed recreational skiing. She played tennis into
her eighties and loved shooting (toy) hoops in her assisted living
apartment. She was a keen Scrabble player and wordsmith. Her family
enjoyed her piano playing and her singing old tunes and invented
songs. Betsy was nourished by the natural world and especially loved
the water. She enjoyed ocean dips for as long as she could walk. Her
quick humor and bright smile would lift your spirit and change your
day.
Betsy’s
husband, Ozzie, died in 2008. She was predeceased by her three
siblings, Walter, Emily and Dick. Betsy and Ozzie are survived by
their four children: Peter Wales and his wife, Lorna, of New
Gloucester, Maine; Sally Wales and her husband, Steve Salls, of
Burlington, Vt.; Joannie Wales and her partner, Leigh Steele, of
Burlington, Vt.; Emily Wales and her husband, Geoff Dennis, of Little
Compton, R.I. She also leaves behind three beloved grandchildren and
their spouses: Anna Cottrell and her wife, Kris Rotondo; Jared and
Tiana Wales; and Erika and Corey MacDonald. Betsy is also survived by
five great-grandchildren and 20 wonderful nieces and nephews.
Her
children are so grateful for Betsy’s 99 years of life and thank her
special caregivers at the Landing in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, and the
Converse Home in Burlington, Vt., and deeply appreciate the skilled,
compassionate care at the McClure Miller Respite House in Colchester,
Vt.
A
memorial service will be held at the United Church of Christ,
Congregational in Norwell, Mass., on October 20, 2024, at 2 p.m. In
lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Friendship Home in Norwell, or Moorestown Friends School.
This article appears in Seven Daysies 2024.