Elizabeth Ewing

Elizabeth (Smith) Ewing, 96 of West Hartford, died September 19, 2017 at her home, she was predeceased by her beloved husband of fifty years, Robert Ewing, who died in 1997. Betty was born in St. Louis, MO on August 11, 1921, daughter of the late Charles E. Smith and Florence Wooster Smith. She grew up in New Haven, CT. She attended the Foote School and The Day School and graduated from Smith College in Northampton, MA with a BA in English Literature. Soon after graduation she worked at Yale University Press in association with the Yale Series of Younger Poets. (Her editorial skills were appreciated by all her family members as she helped us to learn to write a respectable sentence and a presentable term paper the night before it was due.) Betty and Bob were married and moved to West Hartford, CT in 1947. She had a lifelong commitment to volunteering for a variety of organizations and causes: Hartford Hospital, The Mark Twain House & Museum, The Hartford Symphony, The Wadsworth Athenaeum and the Junior League. She was a member of Asylum Hill Congregational Church, The Town and County Club, The Minerva Club, The Friday Club and the Green Gardeners of West Hartford. She was an avid reader and enjoyed discussing books with her friends. Betty leaves her daughter, Elizabeth Milbrey Ewing of West Hartford and her grandson Jacob D. Lee of Providence, RI. She also leaves her brothers, Charles E. Smith and his wife Florence of Fort Lauderdale, FL and Lester Smith of Suffield as well as her sister Harriet Ewing Welch of North Branford and her brother-in-law, Arthur W. Frank of West Hartford. Betty has nine well-loved nieces and nephews, Arthur W. Frank III, Frances Johnson Terwilliger, Lewis Ewing Johnson, Cynthia Alden Smith, Tracey Smith VanBuskirk, Andrew Logan Smith, Sarah Smith Post, Peter Charles Smith and George Edward Smith. Besides her husband, Betty was predeceased by her sister Jane Ewing Frank. Her warm heart and lively dry humor will be missed by all. A private service and burial will be held by the family. In lieu of flowers or edible arrangements, the family asks that a donation be made in Betty's honor to the National Wildlife Federation, PO Box 1691, Merrifield, VA 22116. Services have been entrusted to D'Esopo Funeral Chapel, 277 Folly Brook Blvd., Wethersfield, CT. For online expressions of sympathy, please visit www.desopo.com