Elizabeth Work, 91, passed away peacefully Jan. 14 at her home in Guilford. Betsy was born on Feb. 21, 1927, in the Yale-New Haven Hospital to Dorothy (Aylsworth) and Rev. Frank Hastings Kennedy, who was attending Yale Divinity School at the time.
During her lifetime, she lived in nine states (Connecticut, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Massachusetts, New York, California, Washington). After their marriage, she and Clyde traveled in all 50 states.
She attended three elementary schools in Indiana and graduated from Danville High School in Illinois in 1945, two years behind Dick Van Dyke (who she saw in the movie Mary Poppins Returns just two weeks ago!)
During her first semester at the University of Illinois in 1945, she met Clyde Work, from Kansas, a senior in the Navy Engineering Officer Training Program there. On Saturday, June 19, 1948, Clyde received his master’s degree. On Sunday the 20th Betsy received her bachelor’s degree. On Monday the 21st they were married by Betsy’s grandfather, the Rev. Raymond Aylsworth at the First Christian Church in Danville, Illinois, where her father was the pastor. Betsy and her college roommate, Dotty Rueff in Illinois, have remained close with visits and weekly phone calls.
Her idea that “usefulness is the rent you pay” is apparent in many details of Betsy’s life story. Clyde’s profession was engineering education and together they hosted the Michigan Tech college youth group in their home in Houghton and opened their home to students and visiting professors from abroad as well as many immigrants, being active leaders in the International Club. Betsy taught ESL (English as a Second Language) over the years and was active in hosting and assisting refugee families settling in Ilinois, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, helping 32 of the “Lost Boys of Sudan” obtain their high school diplomas. She was a Girl Scout troop leader for 50 years in three different states. Betsy served for several years as a volunteer in the emergency room and pediatrics at a hospital in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Betsy and Clyde spent a year each in India and Nigeria, where he served in higher education and she taught in schools and worked with benevolent organizations. They traveled extensively in both countries and traveled around the world three times, visiting 57 countries on six continents, not as tourists but visiting former students, colleagues, missionaries, and benevolent projects. For more than 25 years they sponsored children in the Family Village Farm, a residential school for children from struggling families in India.
In Houghton, Betsy organized and lead “Operation Friendship,” for 16 years, a weekly program for low-income mothers and children. In Connecticut she organized CROP Walk with the local churches, which collected donations from $15,000 to $26,000 each year to alleviate local and worldwide hunger. She chaired it for the first 15 years.
Church-related activities were important to Betsy beginning early in her life with more than a decade in various roles in a cast of 100 in an annual Easter Pageant for audiences of 1500, eventually growing into lead roles singing solos. Betsy played active roles in churches wherever she lived, including teaching, singing in the choir, and serving on and chairing various committees. She often wrote and directed skits, and hosted Halloween and Christmas parties and caroling sessions. Betsy was active in regional and state interdenominational women’s organizations. She served as vice president of Church Women United in Michigan, president in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and similar leadership in denominational church organizations.
In the Champaign, Illinois, church, she organized and led a choir of 25 boys. In the First United Congregational Church in Guilford, she organized and, for 15 years, directed a three-week Vacation Bible School program called “Journeys in a Jet Age” with slides, artifacts, and lessons from her world travels.
She did a similar program for three years with children in a homeless shelter. She made hundreds of multicultural slide presentations to audiences of all ages in elementary schools, churches, and secular organizations in seven different states.
Betsy and Clyde had three biological children, Cathleen born in Illinois in 1952 (now in Washington), Janice, born in New York in 1954 (now in heaven), and Richard in Michigan in 1959 (now in Ohio). All three had careers in education. In 1969 Clyde and Betsy adopted Nancy, an eight-year-old girl of Taiwanese descent (now in France), and in 1997, Steven, a four-year-old boy of African American ancestry (now in California). Betsy and Clyde have thirteen grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews. Her brother Bill and his wife Char, who live in Vermont, have been an important part of her life.
Betsy was a voracious reader and loved musicals. She remained active to the final days of her life. She had to give up camping and boating in later years but continued swimming several times a week at the Indian Cove Beach (summer only!), taking the bus to the Guilford Senior Center for lunch, and exercise class twice a week, attending church services weekly, participating in Alpha and a widows’ luncheon group, and making deviled eggs for church meetings.
Betsy’s family is very grateful for all the love and support from her friends, church, and service providers, especially during the past year since Clyde died. Home Instead provided Teri who went above and beyond what her job required; neighbor Sandy (and family) who was always ready to run over and help as needed, take time off work to get Mom to appointments or give foot rubs; Beth, who went with Mom to doctors’ appointments, and answered her middle of the night emergency calls; Carl, Dave, and Jane, who provided transportation; Kathy who often brought lunch; Ginger and Kristie, who visited and counseled at home and in the hospital; Sunny, her rescue cat, who provided a welcome distraction from the vicissitudes of aging; and last but not least, Amanda and the wonderful support team at Hospice who made Mom’s last days more peaceful. Many others not listed enhanced Betsy’s life in so many ways.
Friends are invited to a memorial service on Jan. 18 at 4 p.m. at the First Congregational Church, 122 Broad St., Guilford. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be to First Congregational Church (UCC), 122 Broad St., Guilford, CT 06437; Church World Service (an ecumenical, international service helping with disaster recovery; assisting refugees, and struggling people around the world with wells, seeds, tools, and education. cws.com) 28606 Elkhart, IN 45614; Global Ministries (Family Village Farm in India) Linda Lawrence, 700 Prospect Ave., Cleveland, OH 44115-1100. Arrangements in the care of the Guilford Funeral Home, 115 Church St., Guilford. To share a memory or leave a message of condolence for the family, please visit www.GuilfordFuneralHome.com.
