Elizabeth Smith

A longtime resident of Pacific Grove, Elizabeth Mary ("Betty") Smith died peacefully on March 31st at the age of 94.

She was born in Birkenhead near Liverpool, England, in 1918 and experienced the Great Depression, World War II and the Blitzkrieg as a young woman. She met her husband-to-be, Thomas Arnold ("Bud") Smith at the age of 14, and they married in London in 1939.

After the war the couple immigrated to America with their 2-year old son Barry, aboard the Queen Elizabeth.

After living in Laconia, New Hampshire, for four years, they traveled to California which became their home. Daughter Rosalie was born in San Luis Obispo, and Betty earned her Laboratory Technologist certificate at Fresno State while raising two small children.

On a vacation trip they discovered the Monterey Peninsula and settled here in 1958. Betty worked in the laboratory at Community Hospital (now CHOMP). She excelled in the medical profession in an era when women had to be "pure gold to be judged copper". Later she worked at the laboratory at Fort Ord Hospital where she was greatly admired and respected.

A voracious reader, Betty was a self-taught expert in many areas: Medicine, natural history, ornithology, gardening, handwriting analysis, and eastern religion. She was a skilled ceramicist and created beautiful platters, vases, mugs and bowls that her family treasures. Always a dog lover, she walked miles a day with her beloved Suzy and Sammy, swam regularly, and went to the Sports Center gym into her mid-80's.

Her last years were spent with the caring staff at Del Monte Assisted Residential Care in Pacific Grove and was visited regularly by her husband until his death in 2010, her son John Barry Smith and daughter Rosalie Howarth, and three granddaughters, Amanda, Laura Ashley, and Holly. She is also survived by two sisters in England: Diana Heptinstall and Rosemary Fitzgerald

Betty was wise and funny and kind and smart, and more beautiful than she ever knew. Her grateful family and friends will cherish her memory forever