Elizabeth Felbeck "Betty"

Elizabeth (Betty) Felbeck passed away on March 28, 2023. Betty was a wife, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother, but for many people she was a friend. She had an amazing memory for names, was a good listener, and was open to making friends with people who came from very different backgrounds from her own. When introducing a friend to one of her daughters, she could recite vivid details of that person’s life. She kept in touch with childhood friends and made new friends wherever she lived, including among the residents at Great Lakes Christian Homes, where she lived for 16 years.

Betty was born at home in Dedham, Massachusetts on June 14, 1925. Christened Mary Elizabeth Nichols, her beloved older brother Nick called her “Bett.” She lived in the family home on Bullard Street until she was married. Their house overlooked the exercise yard of the Norfolk County Jail and Betty and Nick had many stories to tell about watching prisoners from their bedroom windows.

Betty graduated from Katharine Gibbs Secretarial School in Boston in 1945 and worked as a secretary for Katharine Taylor, director of Shady Hill School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, until 1950. Betty admired Katharine Taylor greatly and spoke often of her job at Shady Hill, which was a private, progressive elementary school. She used shorthand, a skill she learned at Secretarial School, her entire life, for shopping lists, Christmas gift lists (which exceedingly annoyed her three daughters) and for drafting letters. She was also a proficient typist, and easily transitioned to using emails later in life.

Betty’s life changed dramatically when she met Ted Felbeck at a young people’s group at the Old South Church in Boston in November 1948. Betty was serving coffee and Ted and his brother David, undergraduate students at Massachusetts Institute for Technology, were hungry for sweets and for pretty girls to talk to. Ted and Betty were married in Allin Congregational Church in Dedham on September 23, 1950, and moved to the Felbeck family farm in Wernersville, Pennsylvania. Ted raised pigs, cattle, corn, and oats, while Betty raised babies. Kris was born in August 1951 and Jeannie in December 1952.

Tired of farming, Ted and Betty moved to Penn State, where Ted earned his PhD in soil chemistry in January 1957. Their third daughter Cindy was born in 1955. After a brief stint as a post-doc in Morgantown, West Virginia, Ted and Betty accepted a position with Korean Church World Service, where Ted worked as a community development specialist. At a time when international air travel was rare and Korea was still a third world country, Ted and Betty and their three daughters, the youngest not yet two, boarded a propeller driven plane for Seoul, Korea in July 1957. Although their work there lasted only a year, this experience was to change Betty’s outlook on life forever. She reveled in the opportunity to observe such a different culture, and to meet so many people with such different backgrounds.

They returned to the U.S. and settled in Newark, Delaware where Betty assumed a more traditional role of homemaker while Ted worked at the University of Delaware. Her time and energy were focused on raising three daughters. In 1964 the family moved to southern Rhode Island, when Ted accepted a position at the University of Rhode Island. Betty was an active member of the Kingston Congregational Church, delivered Meals on Wheels, visited the elderly at nursing homes, and tutored elementary students. After the children left home, Betty earned an associate in arts degree in Education and Social Services from the Community College of Rhode Island in June 1981. She worked hard to earn the degree and applied it in a job at the South County Community Action Program.

Upon Ted’s retirement, Betty and Ted decided to sell their home of 25 years and move to Story, Wyoming. Another big change for Betty, she adapted quickly, reading books about western women, and making friends with some delightful characters who lived in the community. Ted died in 2000, but Betty stayed another five years before moving to Great Lakes Christian Homes in Holt, Michigan. Always passionate about politics and non-profit causes, Betty joined a book study group, watched the PBS News Hour faithfully, and donated to a number of organizations that support women’s right to choose, the environment, and refugee issues.

As her final gift to education and research, Betty donated her body to the Wayne State University Body Bequest Program where she will “teach” first year medical students.

Betty is survived by daughters Kristina Felbeck (Hal Eckhart) of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Jeanne Becker (Joseph Becker) of Dolores, Colorado, and Cynthia Chalou (Robert Chalou) of Okemos, Michigan; six grandchildren, Sarah Becker, Dan Heitke-Felbeck, Greg Becker, Becky Chalou Scott, Mike Heitke-Felbeck, and Carl Chalou; and six great grandchildren, Elvie, Eva, Sophia, Marcus, Liam, and Bennett.

The family would like to express their deep appreciation to the staff of Hospice of Lansing and Brookdale Senior Living Solutions who provided professional and compassionate care to Betty during her final year of life.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, April 22nd at 2 PM at Edgewood United Church, 469 North Hagadorn Road, East Lansing, Michigan. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Planned Parenthood Association or the National Parks Foundation.