June 18, 1920 – April 24, 2019
Elizabeth Marsh Strassmann (née Fanck) died in East Lansing, Michigan on April 24, 2019, of complications from congestive heart failure. She was born on June 18, 1920 in Wakefield, Massachusetts to Joseph Henry and Alice Isabel Fanck, teachers of music & industrial arts and math. Betty, as she liked to be called, was her Wakefield High School class valedictorian. Like her own mother, she attended Wellesley College on scholarships, graduating in 1942 with a degree in political science. At age 92 she attended her 70th reunion, dressed in her class color purple while riding in an antique car. As a Wellesley graduate, she was recruited by the US Department of the Navy to learn to read Russian and to analyze Soviet radio messages that had been intercepted by the US government in the Cold War. She continued her education at the University of Chicago where she received a Master’s degree in international relations in 1947. She returned to the government in Washington, and worked in intelligence for the organization that formally became the National Security Agency in 1952.
Betty met the love of her life, Wolfgang Paul Strassmann, at a dance; they married in London in 1952 at the start of a five-month honeymoon in Europe. The couple settled in Arlington, Virginia, where she was the principal breadwinner while mothering two daughters, Joan and Diana. The young family moved to East Lansing in 1956 after Paul completed his PhD and accepted a position at Michigan State University. In East Lansing Betty soon gave birth to a third daughter, Beverly.
A loving and devoted wife and mother, Betty was also passionately interested in progressive politics and education. She served as her precinct’s captain and organized her daughters to join her as election canvassers. When Paul’s career took the family overseas, she was resourceful and adaptive, making homes for her family in Mexico City, London, and Geneva. Once her children were grown, Betty taught social and political science at Michigan State, where she was beloved by her students. Even after retiring in 1990 in anticipation of the birth of her youngest two grandchildren, she continued to help international students by offering free English language coaching and conversation.
Those who knew her appreciated her generosity and compassion towards others, her self-effacement and modesty, and her resilience. From high school onward, she was keen to “know what was going on in the world” and for most of her life she was seldom far from a copy of The Economist or The New York Times. She planted beautiful flower gardens and, was a devotee of Julia Child, hosting lively dinner parties. She loved to travel, particularly when it involved family, and she and Paul visited many countries together.
Betty is survived by her husband of 67 years, W. Paul Strassmann, daughters Joan Elizabeth Strassmann (David Queller), Diana Louise Strassmann (Jeffery Smisek), and Beverly Ilse Strassmann (Claudius Vincenz), and grandchildren Anna Strassmann Mueller (Julio Postigo), Daniel Strassmann Mueller, Philip Strassmann Queller (Rebecca Pacewicz), Julian Strassmann Smisek (Emily Margulies), and Patrick Smisek Strassmann. Betty was preceded in death by her parents Joseph Henry and Alice Isabel Fanck, her sister Dorothy Damsgaard, and her grandson Jonathan Strassmann Smisek. In her final years Betty was expertly cared for at home by a team led by her dear friend of many decades, Tonia Nelson, and by Kayann Sterrett. Her life will be celebrated on June 9, 2019. For details, please contact [email protected]
Memorials may be given to the charity of your choice or to the Elizabeth Marsh Fanck Strassmann '42 Endowed Scholarship Fund, care of Elizabeth Drew Scholl, Senior Development Officer, Wellesley College, 106 Central Street, Wellesley, MA 02481. Online contributions may be made to https://www.givecampus.com/campaigns/5218/donations/new Under "Designation," select "Other" and write in "Elizabeth Strassmann '42 Scholarship Fund."
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