Elizabeth Kohler Dorton

Keith & Keith Funeral Home

YAKIMA - Elizabeth "Betsy" Anne Kohler Nesbitt Dorton, 72, of Raleigh, NC, was born on February 18, 1940, in Philadelphia, PA to Henry J. Kohler and Elizabeth Van Horn Kohler. She died October 6, 2012 at Willow Springs Care Center in Yakima, WA from complications of Rheumatoid Arthritis.

She graduated from Philadelphia High School for Girls and enjoyed life long friendships with many classmates. Betsy went on to West Chester University and graduated with a degree in Education, then furthered her education by graduating from Temple University with a Masters Degree in Education.

She enjoyed ballet and modern dance and took summer workshops during college with Martha Graham's dance company. During her youth she and her family went to the beach often. She carried her love for the ocean and the beach throughout her entire life and shared it with others.

While teaching at Rutgers University she met and married William Nesbitt, who was finishing his PhD in Horticulture. Upon completion, they moved to North Carolina and began a family.

After that marriage ended, she taught various grades K-12 with the Wake County Public Schools in Raleigh, NC for over 20 years.

Betsy was very active and enjoyed camping, skiing, sailing, hiking and gardening. She was an energetic, marvelous, and loving Mom and an enthusiastic Grandma, and a very creative person. Betsy was most happy when with her grandchildren and enjoyed being a part of their lives. She was blessed to have many wonderful friends and neighbors in her life with whom she shared a lot of life's joys.

She met and married Andy Dorton later in life and they shared a lot of happiness, camping, building things together and being grandparents to their grandchildren.

Later, she worked at the North Carolina Museum of Natural History and then at the North Carolina Museum of Art. She finally retired, having more time to visit with her family in Yakima, WA. She especially enjoyed skiing at White Pass, WA.

One of her great passions was volunteering for the Raleigh-Durham, NC branch of the USO. She enjoyed supporting and serving the soldiers as they traveled through the airport USO.

Her daughter, Shirley Nesbitt Young and son in law, Peter Young, Jr., and grandchildren Elizabeth and Patrick survive her.

Preceding her in death are her parents, her husband, Andy Dorton, daughter Mary Anne Nesbitt, brother William Kohler and sister in law, Margaret Kohler.

The family would like to thank the kind, wonderful nurses and caregivers at Willow Springs Care Center, Dr. Kristin Larson and Memorial Home Care Services Hospice.

Memorial Service will be held on Saturday October 13, 2012 at 1:00 PM at St. Timothy Episcopal Church.

To share a memory of Betsy please visit www.keithandkeith.com.