Mary "Betty" Elizabeth Crescenzi

Betty was a Seattle native who was living on her son Joseph’s farm in Brazil at the time of her passing. This was fitting as she left this life as she came into it – traveling. Betty was born in the small mining town of Potrerillos, Chile where her father was working for Anaconda Copper Mining Co. This was just the start of a life lived primarily overseas on four continents. But while Betty loved many of the places she lived, her heart was always in the Pacific Northwest.

Betty and her parents returned to Seattle during the early years of the Great Depression. Betty’s first trip to Seattle from South America may have been one of the more interesting ones. One of the stories was how during the weeks-long journey, she and a monkey were tethered to a cable anytime either were on deck to prevent them going overboard. As you do.

Back in Seattle, they soon settled into life in the Ravenna area where her sister, Barbara, was born soon after. Both sisters had many tales to tell about growing up in old Seattle. A memorable one was when Betty – aged 11 -- was sitting in her father’s car listening to the radio when the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor was announced. Betty went running into the house to tell her mother whose reaction was to say, “Betty! How could you possibly make up something so horrible!”. Betty spoke of the blackouts following the attack, of rations, collecting her mother’s aluminum pans to use as currency to get into ball games, neighbors who may or may not have been spies, etc.

Betty attended Roosevelt High School and then went on to study Spanish and Political Science at Washington State College. After graduation she went to work for the federal government where her first post was to post-war Frankfurt, Germany in 1953. Here she met her future husband Benito “Ben” Crescenzi who she married in 1958 in Washington, D.C. Immediately after the wedding, the newlyweds moved to Athens, Greece where two of their four children, Joseph and Christina, were born. In 1962, Ben and Betty decided to leave government work “because your father was traveling too much”. After less than a year ‘Stateside’, life took them to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where their son Thomas was born. Rio in the 1960’s left the family with wonderful lifelong friends, stories and memories. Betty would reminisce about living a life in paradise tempered by revolutions, frequent blackouts and no running water. A tenth floor Copacabana Beachfront apartment was lovely with electricity but not so much when it became a 10-story walkup with three small children in tow.

In 1968, after deciding not to have their children “go native” in Brazil, Betty and Ben moved their growing family to Eastchester, N.Y. where they bought their home that would become their homebase of operations for all future overseas moves. Their fourth child, Lynda, was born not long after their return. They spent five ‘normal’ years in New York before deciding to move the family back to Brazil in 1973.

The family arrived in Campinas, São Paulo Brazil in 1973. During these "Campinas Years", Betty was a vibrant member of both the Brazilian and expatriate communities. She was 'Mom' to four children, editor of a weekly column in the Brazil Herald called ‘Campinas Capers’, an active member of the Children’s Aid Society and a long list of other social activities. She was a great adventurer who was always out discovering the nearby towns looking for things to write about for her weekly newspaper column. On more than rare occasions, Betty would be late, leaving her her husband to fret about her whereabouts. This sort of adventuring was “Signature Betty”. She would forever be compelled to see what was down that road.

In 1980, Betty and family returned to their home in Eastchester for a year and a bit before setting off for Guadeloupe in the French West Indies where they lived for three years. Upon returning from Guadeloupe, they enjoyed a year of city-living in Manhattan before setting off for what would be their last overseas assignment as a couple. Before accepting the assignment in Douala, Cameroon, Ben made Betty promise to not go adventuring around Douala on her own. Betty would say that that was not the easiest promise she ever made.

Life in Cameroon very much suited Betty’s adventurous spirit. She appreciated the art, the warm people, the food, the beauty and novelty of the country. She particularly appreciated the fact that the Cameroonians chose to understand her French whereas those in Guadeloupe apparently could not.

Betty and Ben returned to their home in Eastchester in late 1988. Sadly, Betty was widowed in 1992. After one too many New York winters, Betty left Eastchester to return home to her beloved Pacific Northwest where she lived in her beautiful view home in the Somerset neighborhood of Bellevue, and later at Merrill Gardens in Kirkland. During these years Betty continued to travel, dividing her year into six-month stints in Brazil and the Eastside. At one point she was running a Pousada she somehow became the proprietor of in the beach town of Porto Seguro, Brazil.

It is no small testament to the love of her children that three out of her four children relocated to the area to be closer to their mom. The fourth remained in Brazil where Betty visited frequently. After a life with many moves, “home” was where Mom was.

When the Covid pandemic hit, Betty and her children decided that life under institutional lockdowns was not going to be a pleasant way to live. Betty chose to make the Great Escape from the coming lockdowns to go live on her son’s and Daughter-in-law Eurides farm in Brazil. On the farm, Betty had four years of living life to the fullest, cared for by her family and loving carers. Her days were filled with family, community, children, babies, lots of dogs and the resident cat. She passed peacefully surrounded by her family.

Betty leaves behind her children Joseph and his wife Eurides, her daughter Christina and husband Paul Barry, her son Thomas and wife Rose, her youngest daughter Lynda, her sister Barbara Andersen and her grandson Benito and great grandson Joseph Jr. Betty is predeceased by her loving husband, Benito and her parents Mr. and Mrs. A.D. Merritt.

A funeral service for Betty will be held Monday, April 22, 2024 from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm at Holy Family Catholic Church, 7045 120th Ave NE, Kirkland, WA 98033. Following the funeral service will be a committal service from 1:00 PM to 1:30 PM at Acacia Memorial Park & Funeral Home, 14951 Bothell Way NE, Seattle, WA 98155.