Betty May O’Brien passed away peacefully in her sleep on September 22, 2022 in Louisville, Colorado. Betty was raised in Greenwich, Connecticut, graduating from Greenwich Country Day and then Emma Willard School in Troy, New York, before moving on to University of Maryland, College Park, graduating in 1960. Betty was a vivacious and friendly woman with an infectious laugh and vitality who threw her considerable talents into wherever she was focused.
Betty was presented at the Debutante Ball in Greenwich in 1955. She was active volunteer, winning an award for the most volunteer hours by a teenager in the country.
She married A. Michael Lipper, who was a Lieutenant in the Marine Corps, in 1959. Betty and Mike had four children, Kenneth, Steven, Donald and Kathleen, settling in Westfield, NJ. During this time, Betty’s husband, Mike began a career in finance, eventually founding Lipper Analytical Services, while Betty focused on the needs of their children.
In the 1970’s, Betty became increasingly engaged in special education, advocating for her and other children. She founded the Union County Association of Children with Learning Disabilities. In the mid-‘70’s, when the Governor of New Jersey proposed cutting special education, she mobilized a coalition representing over a million voters to fight the cuts. The Governor eventually relented. When Betty and Mike divorced in 1986, she began a new chapter, moving to Boulder, Colorado, which she called a “beautiful and welcoming place to begin a new stage of her life”. Betty was thrilled just a few years later to transition to her new role as beloved grandmother. The grandchildren knew their Grandma as a funny, energetic, warm and encouraging soul, regularly telling them “you can do anything you put your mind to”.
Betty is survived by her three sons and their wives – Ken and Laurie, Steve and Ann Marie, and Don and Elizabeth; her eight grandchildren and their wives – Anthony and Laurie Ruiz, Tom Ruiz and Kelly Stenger, Catherine Lipper, Matt Lipper and Kate Binder, Stephanie Lipper, Rob Lipper-Sagehorn, Jack Lipper-Sagehorn, and Ted Lipper-Sagehorn; and her three great-grandchildren – Jason Ruiz, Kairi Ruiz, and Alexia Ruiz. Betty’s youngest child, Kathleen, who was called Kay as an adult, married Andy Anderson. Kay Lipper Anderson predeceased Betty in 2007.
There will be a Remembrance and Celebration of Life for Betty on what would have been her 85th birthday, September 27th from 5-7pm at Howe Mortuary and Crematory in Longmont, CO. In October, there will be an Interment Service at the Cedar Hill Cemetery in Suitland Maryland. In lieu of flowers, the family has set up an account at Susan G. Komen For the Cure, In Memory of Betty May O’Brien (komen.org).
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.howemortuary.com for the O'Brien family.
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